SALES of car manufacturer Nissan's latest Qashqai model have exceeded expectations by 50 per cent in its first month, which could lead to job creation as the firm's North-East plant increases its output.

The car, built at the Nissan plant in Washington, Tyne and Wear, was expected to sell about 7,000 across Europe in its first four weeks on sale, but instead has already taken orders for 10,500.

Now the Washington site is preparing to produce about 37,000 more Qashqais a year than the 130,000 originally planned. One production line at the plant is set to be almost exclusively dedicated to the model.

Two hundred manufacturing jobs and 100 trainee positions have already been created as a result of the £139m investment to produce the Qashqai, taking Nissan's total workforce in the region to 4,400.

But yesterday, a company spokesman said more jobs could be on the way.

"We will be transferring other vehicles over to line two during June so line one can concentrate on satisfying demand for Qashqai," he said.

He added that the number of new recruits would depend on the level of continuing demand for the car.

The 4x4 hybrid Qashqai is the first Nissan car to be entirely British-built, and is the first model to be built on Wearside specifically for the Japanese market in more than a decade, the last being the Primera in 1996.