The world's largest auto-maker, General Motors, said Monday it planned further job cuts in Europe as part of a radical overhaul of its business on the continent.
"It's clear, we have too many people drawing a salary," GM vice chairman of product development, Bob Lutz, told the Wednesday issue of German magazine Auto Motor und Sport.
He declined to say how many of GM's 60,000 jobs in Europe would be slashed, but company sources said the cuts would primarily affect administrative services. About half of its employees - some 32,000 - work for the German unit Opel.
The division's number two, Carl-Peter Forster, said two weeks ago that the company was losing hope that its European activities would return to profit this year and that new layoffs could not be ruled out.
Since the start of a two-billion-euro (2.4-billion-dollar) cost-cutting drive in 2001, GM has eliminated 2,500 jobs in Europe.
The reorganisation is expected to save GM Europe hundreds of millions of euros, Forster said.