NISSAN set a new monthly production record at its North-East plant in October, with more than 52,000 cars rolling off its production line.

The Japanese firm said 52,407 vehicles were made, which is the first time the factory has ever made more than 50,000 cars in a month.

The figure is about 3,000 vehicles higher than the previous record of 49,916 that were made in October last year.

The plant, which employs more than 6,000 workers, makes the Juke, Note and all-electric Leaf, and will produce the new next generation Qashqai model.

Work has also started on expanding its factory to make the luxurious Infiniti Q30 hatchback from 2015, which will create 280 jobs and compete against the Audi A3 and Mercedes Benz CLA Class.

Kevin Fitzpatrick, Nissan’s vice president for manufacturing in the UK, said: “The addition of the new Note and continued demand for our crossover models led to monthly production exceeding 50,000 for the first time in our 27-year history at Sunderland.

“I would like to thank and congratulate all of our staff on reaching this milestone as we prepare to launch the next generation Qashqai.”

Bosses also revealed global production in October increased 13.3 per cent year-on-year to 465,494 cars, with UK work increasing five per cent year-on-year, mainly due to increased demand for its new Note hatchback.

Earlier this month, the company launched the UK's largest electrical commercial vehicle trial, piloting 28 Nissan e-NV200 vans in British Gas' fleet of home service vehicles.