CAR manufacturer Nissan played down speculation last night that its Sunderland plant has been earmarked to produce the next generation of Almera car.

Just weeks after it was announced, the Wearside plant would produce a new Micra model, it was reported that the workforce would also be making the new Almera.

If true, it would mean the safeguarding of about 5,000 jobs and would be a huge boost for the UK car industry.

However, last night, Nissan said while Sunderland would be the obvious choice for the production of the Almera, any decision would be three or four years in the future.

A spokesman said last night: "The current version of the Almera is already produced at Sunderland, and that was only introduced last year.

" Sunderland would be an obvious choice, but that is not cut and dried.

"There are other places which could also produce it."