Honda and Nissan cut back

Nissan has scaled back production at its Sunderland factory until Christmas to avoid stockpiling vehicles that aren't selling.

The company will stop building the Nissan Micra and the Nissan Note completely for two weeks at the end of this month, and will operate a further three weeks of short shifts after that.

Temporary work contracts will be cancelled, but a Nissan spokesperson confirmed that no permanent workers would be made redundant. Staff will take part in training on the non-production days.

"There will be down-days between now and December and temporary contracts will go," said the Nissan spokesperson. "It's part of our volume flexibility agreements that allow us to adjust to market demand."

Sunderland is one of the biggest UK car factories. However Nissan has already announced plans to move production of the Micra to India by 2010. The current model is in the final stage of its lifespan after six years on the market.

The Japanese brand is making similar cut backs at its factory in Barcelona, where the large Nissan Pathfinder and Nissan Navara 4x4s are made.

Nissan's Sunderland-built Qashqai compact-SUV continues to sell strongly. There's a 12-month waiting list for the Qashqai in Russia, part of the reason that its production line remains unaffected.

Nissan is the latest in a string of manufacturers to wind back car production in the UK. Rival Honda has also cut back production of the Civic by 10 per cent. Further afield Hyundai has announced plans to idle its US factory for 11 days during the last quarter of the year.

Will Powell