PEUGEOT CITROEN LAYOFFS JOB CUTS: 11000 employees to be fired

Peugeot Citroen Layoffs

France biggest carmaker Peugeot Citroen has announced that it will layoff 11000 jobs in 2009. The 11000 jobs will be eliminated starting with European plants outside France. Peugeot Citroen had already cut 2700 jobs at the end of 2008. French President Nicolas Sarkozy had recently unveiled a three-billion-euro (£2.7bn; $3.9bn) loan for the company. Mr Sarkozy's loan to Peugeot Citroen and Renault is dependent on assurances they will not shut French plants or cut French jobs.

Reasons for Peugeot Citroen Layoffs

Peugeot Citroen reported an unexpected loss of 343m euros of $443m. Peugeot Citroen said sales revenues across its Peugeot and Citroen brands declined 7.4% last year. The firm warned it expected to make a similar loss in 2009, but said it aimed to return to profit in 2010. Mr Steiff warned the European car market was in for further tough times and forecast a 20% decline this year. He said the company was continuing efforts to reduce levels of unsold cars and maintain cost-cutting.

source: BBC