Volkswagen SA will shed up to 400 jobs, the car manufacturer said on Friday.
”Employees have been invited by the company to apply for the voluntary separation package,” spokesperson Bill Stephens said in a statement.
VWSA also planned to close all production areas in the last week of February as well as during the weeks before and after the Easter weekend.
The company said it had been forced to take steps to address the domestic and global economic crisis.
”The continuing worldwide financial crisis is having a dramatic impact on the demand for vehicles, with practically all global markets showing a substantial reduction in demand.”
The company said a significant part of VWSA’s production was export related.
”Therefore, the global situation will have a profound effect on the company’s production volumes in 2009.
”In addition, the current forecasted domestic total vehicle market in 2009 shows a further decline in excess of 10% versus 2008.”
The company said the short-term reduction of demand would not lead to any changes in the company’s medium to long term strategy, which included significant investment in new products and technology and higher levels of local content over the next two to three years.
Honda shuts British plant for four months
Meanwhile, workers at Honda’s British factory made the last cars on Friday before a four-month shutdown caused by a sharp fall in worldwide sales.
Production at the Japanese giant’s plant in Swindon, southwest England, will be halted until June 1, with 4 200 workers receiving full pay for the first two months, reduced to 60% for the rest of the shutdown.
Honda has insisted it intends to maintain its Swindon workforce until the Jazz model is due to go into production there later this year.
The shutdown came on a grim day of news for Honda as Japan’s second-largest carmaker said its net profit plunged 89% in the fiscal third quarter and it slashed its annual earnings forecast by more than half.
It made a net profit of 20,24-billion yen ($226-million) for the three months to December, down from 200-billion yen a year earlier.
Japanese car firms have been slashing production and laying off workers to cope with the global economic crisis, which has seen demand for vehicles collapse as potential buyers find finance drying up amid the credit crunch.
In Britain, Nissan has cut 1 200 jobs from its 5 000-strong workforce at its plant in Sunderland, northeast England. — Sapa-AFP