In a move that underlines the severity of the downturn in global car demand, there will be no vehicle production today at Nissan's Sunderland site, widely regarded as Europe's most productive and efficient car plant, writes Chris Tighe .

Significantly, Nissan is shelving production today, and for the next two Fridays, of its successful new model, the Qashqai, as well as of the Micra and Note. The company, whose Sunderland site is the UK's biggest car producer, said Qashqai sales were still doing well, with back orders in some markets, but other markets were softening. The three non-production Fridays were, it said, "a precaution to protect our inventory".