Workers at Nissan's Sunderland plant have celebrated producing their 10 millionth vehicle.
The plant, which opened in 1986, has produced so many cars that, if parked nose-to-tail, they would stretch for more than 42,000 km - enough to go all the way around the world.
The landmark vehicle, a Qashqai Tekna, was equipped with some of Nissan’s most cutting-edge features, including its ProPILOT technology, which controls the steering, acceleration and braking in a single lane on highways during heavy traffic, as well as high-speed cruising.
Its production has been a rare filip for the 海角视频 automotive plant during a turbulent year that has seen cancel the production of two models at Sunderland, while fellow car manufacturers Ford and Honda have announced plans to shut plants entirely.
Steve Marsh, vice president of manufacturing at Nissan Sunderland, said: “Building ten million vehicles is a tremendous achievement for everyone associated with the plant.
“Reaching this huge figure has called on all the ingenuity, commitment and spirit of our highly skilled workforce, many of who hail from the North East of England.
“Together we are determined to continue to drive up the high quality standards our customers have come to expect over the last three decades.”
The Qashqai - one of nine models that has been produced at Sunderland over the last three decades - is its most popular, contributing 3.4m to the 10m total. It is followed by the Micra, which was produced from 1992 to 2010 and accounted for 2.4m models, and then the Primera (1.5m).
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There are currently three models in production at Sunderland - the Qashqai, the Juke and the all-electric Leaf.
The plant was built on the site of a former airfield, with a ground breaking ceremony taking place in July 1984 and the first car being produced two years later.
The workforce at the plant has risen from an initial 470 to around 7,000 today, with Nissan’s annual turnover of more than £6.3bn making it by far the North East’s largest company.
Nissan has tried to stay out of the Brexit debate but has warned that “continued uncertainty around the 海角视频’s future relationship with the EU is not helping companies like ours plan for the future”.