Nissan’s Sunderland plant has started exporting its second model to Japan in the space of just 10 weeks.

In March, Qashqai became the first Sunderland-built model in over a decade to be exported back to Nissan’s home market. Now, the plant’s Micra C+C convertible will join it on dealer forecourts in Japan too.

Designed, engineered and manufactured in Britain, the C+C began rolling off the Sunderland production line in November 2005 following a £95 million total project investment. In that time more than 23,000 have been exported to over 45 markets around the world.

Initially, around 1,500 cars will be shipped, with customer demand carefully monitored once the car reaches Japanese showrooms in July.

Trevor Mann, senior vice president, manufacturing Europe, said: “Coming so soon after Qasqai, this is great news for our plant.

“In March I was explaining how demanding the Japanese market is in relation to Qashqai export, so to have two of our products competing over there speaks volumes both about the quality of our employees, and the cars they produce.”