CAR manufacturer Nissan saw global production of its vehicles fall by ten per cent last month.

That means for the first half of this year, production in all regions of the business, including Japan, North America and Europe, has fallen by 3.2 per cent. Total production in the year to June amounted to 1.254m vehicles.

At the same time, sales of Nissan's vehicles fell by 3.9 per cent last month. Total global sales for the first six months of the year fell by 1.8 per cent.

The global production fall in June, to 213,502 vehicles, was the fifth in the row for the company, now part-owned by French car maker Renault.

Production by Nissan in its domestic market of Japan was 106,714 cars, a fall of almost 13 per cent from the same time in 2000.

This was due largely to decreased exports to North America and Europe.

The company's total overseas production in June, totalled 106,788 cars, a fall of 7.7 per cent on June 2000.

Production in Mexico saw the biggest fall, a massive 19.7 per cent, while European production, including that at the company's Sunderland plant, was down 9.3 per cent.

Only in the US was there an increase in the number of cars being built, by 8.4 per cent, due to increased production of the company's Altima model.

Sales of Nissan's cars in Europe fell by 10.3 per cent in the first half of the year, despite continuing strong demand for the company's Almera Tino model. A decline in the German market was the major factor in this fall.

At home in Japan, the picture was slightly rosier. Sales in the first six months of the year rose by 1.9 per cent, with 395,889 vehicles being sold.

That is the first year-on-year increase in the company's home market for five years.

Nissan has an 18.5 per cent share of the Japanese market, up 0.1 per cent on the same time last year.

However, Nissan's exports from Japan fell by 30 per cent last month, to 42,068 cars. In the first six months of the year's Nissan's exports from Japan have fallen by 19.5 per cent to 246,854 vehicles, the third year in a row they have fallen.

Nissan puts the general decline in exports down to a continued slow market in the US and the company's policy of producing vehicles in the markets where they are sold.

Andrew Horne, a spokeman for Nissan, said: "Production has fallen across Nissan's operations due to a general fall in overall demand for vehicles.

"It isn't just Nissan that is suffering, all car manufacturers are in the same boat.

"People are tending to hold on to their older vehicles for longer, or are just not buying new cars in general. That is more the case in Continental Europe than the UK."

"Nissan has implemented a policy of local production to be more flexible to market demand and to reduce the problems of currency fluctuations."