NISSAN'S Sunderland car plant is more than five per cent more productive than the most efficient car plant in North America, a study showed yesterday.

The 2005 Harbour Report measures the productivity of car plants - and it showed that last year the average combined time it took Sunderland to build its three models, Micra, Almera and Primera, was just over 15 hours per car.

This was 5.1 per cent better than the top-ranked plant in North America, which averaged 15.85 hours per car.

The Micra supermini took 13 hours to build - more than 21 per cent more efficient than the combined volume of North America's most productive plant.

Sunderland was ranked as the most productive car plant in Europe from 1997 to 2003 by the World Markets Research Centre.

Last year, Nissan joined the Harbour Report, which studied more than 30 plants across Europe and every domestic and major foreign manufacturer in north America.

Colin Dodge, managing director of the Sunderland plant, said: "I'm delighted we've improved on our productivity record from 2003.

"It's a good indication that you're building cars well, achieving an excellent standard of quality and are working efficiently.

"If you get any of those things wrong you won't be productive, so obviously I'm pleased."

He paid tribute to the skill and motivation of the workforce at Sunderland saying: "Their hard work is ensuring we remain competitive and are in a good position to attract new models to the UK.