The North-East's most important new car for years goes on sale this month - and thousands of jobs depend on its success.

The new Micra is built at Nissan's award-winning plant in Sunderland.

In production since the end of November 2002, the new supermini goes on sale in the UK on January 15.

Prices for the Micra start at £7,495 for the 1.0E three-door model, with the top-of-the range 1.4 SVE five-door automatic costing £11,695.

All of the new Micras have twin airbags, electric power steering, electric windows and remote control central locking.

Factory bosses are pinning their hopes on the new car's success.

They believe a sell-out Micra will bolster Sunderland's case for the next new Nissan model to be built in Europe - despite the continued strength of sterling which makes UK sourced cars more expensive to build than their continental counterparts.