Work begins on new Qashqai

Sales of Nissan's Qashqai have been so successful that work has already begun on the next version of the car – despite the original only being on sale in Britain for five months, and not having gone on sale worldwide yet.

More than 33,000 Qashqais have been sold so far, with another 60,000 confirmed orders still being built as the Japanese firm's Sunderland plant works at full capacity to meet demand.

Although the development cycle means the new version of the small family car with 4x4 styling is unlikely to be available for several years, Nissan insiders have revealed that work has already begun on the next generation of Qashqai.

Sources have also confirmed that a seven-seater version of the car is currently being evaluated in testing. Three different versions of the extended platform Qashqai have been spied being put through their paces, with Nissan expected to decide later this year which style it wants to put on sale.

The firm typically works on a five-year cycle to develop a new car from scratch, with updates being introduced to on-sale models during that period.