NISSAN is poised to make a major announcement today about its North-East plant and the future of thousands of jobs.

Company bosses are due to give details of new investment in its Sunderland factory - already the most productive car plant in Europe.

They will be joined by Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt at a Press conference this morning.

Although company officials were refusing to elaborate last night, speculation was mounting that the company would unveil its plans for production of the next car to be built at the factory.

Officials have already confirmed the company's intention to build a small family hatchback in Sunderland.

The model went on sale in Japan two weeks ago, where it is called the Nissan Note.

In Europe, the same model could well be renamed the Nissan Tone, the name of the concept car shown at the Paris Motor Show last year, upon which it is based.

Winning the Note/Tone will help boost capacity at the plant as production of the ageing Almera winds down.

Nissan has high hopes for the new car. At the Japanese launch on January 20, it projected domestic sales of 8,000 per month as part of a plan to grab a quarter of the country's sales of small vehicles.

Worldwide sales should easily top 100,000.

The car has been developed in record time. Nissan pushed ahead so quickly that it began to run short of steel sheets and was forced to cut back initial production.

Unusual features of the Tone's exterior design include the Primera-style angular body, large headlamps and striking rear lights fitted with half-round reflectors.

While the car will stand out from the crowd, Nissan designers are keen to stress this is only the start of a new raft of innovative products.

Nissan will use today's visit by the Trade Secretary to show off two new concept cars ahead of the Geneva Motor Show, which starts later this week. One of the concepts will be the Qashqai - a compact "cross-over" vehicle designed to appeal to young drivers.

The first complete design project to come from Nissan Design Europe's new facility in London, the Qashqai looks like a 4x4 blended with a sports coupe and drives like a normal saloon.

It incorporates an advanced electronic four-wheel-drive system and has rear-hinged doors.

Although the Qashqai has been seen before, the other concept car is new to the UK.

The company was keeping quiet about its new model last night. A spokesman said only: "We're quietly confident it will raise a few eye-brows."

Although concept cars used to be automotive flights of fancy - what happened when designers were encouraged to go wild - modern concepts are much more likely to go into production.

The Note/Tone was originally billed as a concept, as were the current and previous generation Primeras.

Nissan has already shown one new concept this year - a coupe called the Azeal - that went on display at the Detroit Motor Show last month, and this could be seen at Geneva.

Billed as an "entry level pocket rocket", the Azeal's compact size would seem to make it a viable model for sale in Europe.

Nissan's Sunderland factory was opened in July 1986 and is now the biggest car plant in the UK, with a production capacity of more than 300,000 vehicles.