SUNDERLAND'S Nissan car plant is looking to recruit 100 new staff as it gears up for the launch of its latest model.
The Qashqai family car/4x4 hybrid goes on sale on March 1 and the plant is already producing more than 1,500 a week.
The new employees will join the 300 staff already taken on to work on the new model.
They will join initially on a temporary contra
ct with potential to be extended.
Nissan Personnel Director Danny Griffiths said: "The new staff will play a key role in the critical early phase of Qashqai's production and although they are joining on temporary contacts, there is real potential for this to be extended."
Qashqai represents a £230million investment in Sunderland and provides job security for 1,000 Wearside workers.
The company is hoping to build 140,000 Qashqais a year. The majority are ear-marked for European sales, but about 30,000 a year are intended for other markets.
With work on Qashqai underway, Sunderland expects to beat its 2003 record of 331,924 vehicles built.
Nissan Sunderland is the UK's most productive car plant, turning out 84,000 Notes a year, 135,000 Micra and 20,000 of the Micra C+C convertible.
Sunderland still builds the Primera in limited numbers for sale in Russia and some Eastern European and Nordic markets.
Production of the Almera ended in November – just days before work on Qashqai began – and the Micra is expected to be phased out in 2009, with Sunderland facing stiff competition from other Nissan plants for the right to produce a replacement.
