Overtime has been introduced at Peugeot’s Ryton factory in Coventry to cope with unparalleled demand for the Company’s new 206 range of cars.

The 2,500 Ryton employees are to work additional shifts in January, February and March in an attempt to cope with record levels of demand from the UK and other European countries.

Peugeot has already announced the introduction of a revolutionary weekend shift which will operate over Friday, Saturday and Sunday from late April.

Announcing the news, Peugeot’s Managing Director, Richard Parham said:

"The demand for the 206 which we introduced in November, has exceeded all expectations both here and in other European countries and we cannot wait until our new shifts start to operate in April or May, so we have to introduce significant overtime now."

The 206 became an instant success from its introduction in November with over 10,000 sales in the UK being recorded in the first two months of its sales launch and more than 250,000 sales being recorded across Europe.

More than 10,000 applications have been received for the 900 new jobs at Ryton, when the new weekend shift becomes operational.