PSA Peugeot-Citroen said on Oct. 24 it had ordered a 30% production cuts after European sales collapsed and would be temporarily forced to send many workers home without pay.
In a statement, the group said it had ordered "massive production reductions" in the fourth quarter as part of "exceptional measures" to counter a dramatic fall in new car sales amid a world economic slowdown.
Separately, company officials confirmed that plants in France would lose between two and 16 days of work each in the last three months of 2008.
There would also be cut-backs at Peugeot's sites in Madrid and Vigo in Spain and at Trnava, in Slovakia.
Peugeot forecast a 17% fall in car sales in Western Europe in the fourth quarter and 8% for the year as a whole. The group's own sales will fall about 3.5% after earlier predictions of a 5% rise.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008
