Nissan has delayed the start of European production of its new Qashqai for more than six months, according to a report.

Nissan was scheduled to start building the third generation of its best-selling compact SUV at its plant in Sunderland, England, in October, but now production will not start until "after April 2021," according to the UK’s Financial Times newspaper.

The delay is largely due to the coronavirus crisis, the report said. 

The Qashqai is Nissan’s top-sellier in Europe and has already been losing ground against rivals such as Volkswagen’s Tiguan, Peugeot 3008 and Toyota’s C-HR.

The delay is also a blow to workers at the Sunderland plant, which has been affected by job cuts due to Covid-19. Nissan eliminated a third shift at the plant last year and does not plan to reinstate it, despite rising demand for the new Juke small SUV made there. T

The automaker said there was no plan to remove the Qashqai from the plant.

Nissan will close its Barcelona at the end of this year.

Year to date, Nissan NZ has sold 1190 Qashqai.