Volkswagen, Europe's leading car maker, is planning to cut 3.5% of the workforce in its automotive division, or around 5,000 jobs in all, in face of the persistently difficult economic situation.
Chairman Bernd Pischetsrieder told VW's annual earnings news conference that business in the first three months of the current year was likely to prove 'lousy'. And looking at the year as a whole, the car maker was targeting 'only a slight rise in vehicle deliveries worldwide, excluding China.'
In order to face up to the difficult situation, VW planned to cut 3.5% of the workforce in its automotive division, it said.
The automotive division employs around 143,000 people and VW's total global workforce numbers around 335,000. Jobs would be cut via early retirement and so-called natural wastage where most of the people leaving the company would not be replaced, Pischetsrieder said.
In all, VW planned to cut €4 billion in costs by 2005, double the amount originally envisaged, the chairman said.
