RENAULT has announced nearly 15,000 jobs will be cut worldwide.
The French car manufacturer said on Friday morning it needed to make the cuts as the coronavirus pandemic has damaged the automotive industry.
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The savings will take place over the next three years as part of a €2bn cost-saving package.
It plans to cut global production capacity from 4m vehicles in 2019 to 3.3m by 2024.
The cuts, which will be “based on retraining, internal mobility and voluntary departures”, are broken down to a reduction of 4,600 staff in France and more than 10,000 in the rest of the world.
The manufacturer employs more than 180,000 people globally. It has more than 190 sites in the UK.
In a statement, alongside its annual results, Renault said: "The difficulties encountered by the Group, the major crisis facing the automotive industry and the urgency of the ecological transition are all imperatives that are driving the company to accelerate its transformation."
The Sun has asked Renault how many jobs will be affected in the UK and we will update this story when we hear back.
Interim chief executive Clotilde Delbos said the measures will not include a withdrawal from Formula One.
Renault's sales were down 3 per cent last year and the number of vehicles sold in the first three months of 2020 fell by 25 per cent, before dropping further in April.
Its group revenue was down 3.3 per cent to €55,537m for 2019.
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It comes after McLaren announced it was axing a quarter of workforce, putting 1,200 jobs at risk.
Affected roles will be spread across McLaren's Forumla 1, manufacturing and technologies operations, as well as impacting back office staff too.
The company, which says it's a major employer in the south east and Sheffield, currently has a workforce of about 4,000 people who have already taken wage cuts or been put on furlough due to the coronavirus crisis.
McLaren isn't the only car manufacturer to run into difficulties – just last week Rolls-Royce said it was to cut at least 9,000 jobs.
While last summer Ford said 3,100 roles were at risk over the next 18 months.
Nissan also cut 12,500 jobs globally in the summer of 2019.
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