Nissan has applied for permission to extend its factory at Sunderland in northeast England, already Britain’s largest car making plant, where it plans to produce a new premium compact car for its Infiniti brand starting in 2015.

The carmaker has asked Sunderland city council for planning permission to extend the factory by around 25,000 square feet (2,300 square meters), allowing it to enlarge its body and paint shops, as well as trim, chassis and press facilities.

“If approved, these extensions will support the continued growth of Nissan’s UK operations, reflecting the success of models manufactured in the UK including Qashqai, Juke, Note and the 100 percent electric Nissan Leaf,” said a Nissan spokesman. “The main extensions proposed are to body shop and the trim and chassis building and are required for new production facilities.”

The Sunderland plant, which made its first vehicle in 1986, produces around 500,000 vehicles annually.

The plant is due to build new versions of the Qashqai and Note over the next three years, as well as a new premium compact car called the Q30 for Infiniti.

Once production of the new models kicks off, capacity at the plant will “go beyond 550,000,” the spokesman said.

Infiniti vehicles are now mostly built in Japan and Nissan said in May that due to a strong yen, they had contributed less than 1 percent of operating profit in the past two years. Nissan now plans to make the brand at its Xiangyang plant in China starting next year and Sunderland from 2015.

Some 6,000 staff are employed at the Sunderland plant, with a further 23,000 jobs supported by its UK supply chain, Nissan said.

British auto industry body the SMMT has rated the Sunderland plant as the biggest UK car factory for 14 years running, and the biggest UK car exporter for the last 13 years.