Nissan boosts staff

Nissan is planning to recruit an additional 150 manufacturing staff in anticipation of a boost to orders at its Sunderland plant.

The car manufacturer said that it expects additional, short-term customer demand for vehicles such as the Micra, Note and Qashqai as a result of the car scrappage scheme to be introduced in the UK later this month.

Last month, Nissan experienced a year-on-year increase in sales in major European markets currently operating a scrappage scheme. This included a nine per cent increase in Germany, a 31 per cent increase in France and a 21 per cent increase in Italy.

In anticipation of the spike in demand in the UK, the plant plans to bring in additional workers. The temporary staff will each receive four-month contracts to operate over both of the plant's production lines to support a planned volume increase of approximately 14,000 units.

Trevor Mann, Nissan’s senior vice-president for manufacturing, said: ‘The impact of the financial crisis is continuing and our 2009 full-year forecasts still reflect a depressed market overall.

‘However, this short-term spike in demand, fuelled by a number of scrappage schemes introduced across Europe, is clearly a very welcome boost to business during what is a highly challenging period for all car makers.’