NISSAN is celebrating the production of its 11 millionth vehicle at its factory in Sunderland.

The milestone means that on average a new car has rolled off the line at the plant every two minutes, every hour of every day, since production started 37 years ago.

The 11 millionth car was a silver Qashqai e-POWER, one of three electrified models currently built at the plant.

The first car, built in 1986, was a white Nissan Bluebird, which took about 22 hours to build. Today, a top of the range Qashqai e-POWER takes about 8.5 hours.

Adam Pennick, vice president of manufacturing at Nissan Sunderland, said: "This milestone reflects the vast experience that our world-class manufacturing team has in delivering the quality cars that our customers love.

"We've come a long way since production first started with some iconic models on the way. But we're always looking forward, and our fully electrified range and EV36Zero plan mean we have an exciting and sustainable future ahead."

The 11 million is made up of nine different models, with 22 variants.

Four models, Qashqai, Micra, Primera and Juke have gone past seven figures, with Qashqai the all-time highest at more than four million.

Last year the Qashqai was the UK's best-selling new car - the first British built model to win the award in 24 years.