Carlos Ghosn lauched the new Micra model last year

About 4,000 Micras have been made every week at the site since the Prime Minister Tony Blair and Nissan President, Carlos Ghosn, launched production of the new model in November 2002.

The Sunderland plant - which employs almost 5,000 people - underwent a �235m renovation to make the new car.

The company said high demand for the car across Europe had led to the the site's breaking it's own production record.

Factory future

Micra sales across the Continent are up 48% against last year.

Managing Director of Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK), Colin Dodge, said: "In the first full year of production of the previous Micra, we built around 150,000 cars.

"For the new Micra, we have raised our production capacity to 200,000 units a year, in response to strong customer demand."

Two years ago, Nissan decided to produce the Micra in Sunderland rather than in France where both its costs and its revenues would be in euros.

But in October last year, Mr Ghosn warned the future of car production at the Sunderland plant could be at risk if the UK did not adopt the euro.