Renault to cut fewer jobs than initially planned by 2024

PARIS (Reuters) – French carmaker Renault said on Monday it had revised down its forecast for engineering and support jobs cuts in France between 2022 and 2024 to 1,700 from the 2,000 job losses previously expected.

Renault, 15% owned by the French government, said in September it would start talks with unions on plans to cut up to 2,000 engineering and support jobs in France as it shifts into electric vehicles and hires for different posts.

“Given the increase of the number of people departing the company on a voluntary basis … there has been a readjustment of the 2022-2024 plan’s targets”, a Renault spokesperson told Reuters, confirming the 1,700 figure reported by Les Echos.

Those cuts come on top of 4,600 positions Renault announced in 2020 it would cut as part of a cost reductions to stem losses.

Renault said last months it was close to reaching its target of cutting fixed costs by 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) by the end of 2021, a year ahead of schedule. The aim is to reach 3 billion euros in cost cuts by 2025.

A union representative told Reuters the new jobs cuts figure put forward by Renault’s management in its 2022-2024 plan would be submitted by unions to their members in two weeks time.

The Renault spokesperson said the 2022-2024 plan still aimed to hire 2,500 new people in different positions.

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(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel and Gilles Guillaume, Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten)