NISSAN will unveil the new super-mini later this month in a bid to reverse the fortunes of its North-East car plant.

The Micra does not go on sale in the UK until the end of next year. With demand for Nissan cars sliding across Europe, bosses admit there is a great deal riding on the model.

The car is due to be unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in two weeks' time.

Officially, Nissan says the model is a concept car, but, with the Japanese version of the Micra already approved and due out next spring, the new super-mini is unlikely to look significantly different.

Figures released yesterday revealed a slump in production at the group's award-winning plant in Sunderland. Output of Micras, Primeras and Almeras was 18 per cent down on the same period last year.

Management at the plant have already drawn up plans to ride out the storm.

They are discussing a number of proposals with staff representatives, including:

Changes to holiday arrangements that will give Nissan the flexibility to allow a partial plant shutdown;

Standing down some production shifts;

A reduction in working hours.

Output at the plant is to fall from 320,000 cars last year to 300,000 this year.

Although car sales in Britain are soaring, much of Europe remains moribund. Nissan has been hit particularly hard by a slump in the German market, a key outlet for the Primera in particular.

Although a new Primera is due to go on sale by the end of this year, the big seller will be a new Micra small car in 2002.

The current Micra model is nearly a decade old. Although Nissan's policy of constant refinement has kept it class competitive, the car is coming to the end of its showroom life.

Last year, Nissan's president, Carlos Ghosn, almost awarded the Micra contract to a Renault plant in France. He feared the strength of sterling would make the car uneconomic to produce in the UK.

Sunderland's unrivalled productivity record eventually won the argument.

Talking about the new car, company spokesman Andrew Horne said: "Concept cars are like cinema trailers, a taste of what's coming soon. They are a cost effective way to gauge the reaction of our customers to forthcoming models."