(August 31, 2012) STOCKHOLM — Swedish carmaker Volvo will cut car production in Sweden around 10 percent and shed 200-300 jobs due to slower-than-expected sales, a union official said Thursday.

Michael Blohm of the IG Metall blue collar union at Volvo's Torslanda plant in the western city of Gothenburg said management had told staff a slowdown in sales meant production would have to be reduced, Reuters news service reported.

"They want to go down from 57 cars an hour to 52 or 50," said Blohm. That would also mean that between 200 and 300 people working at the plant from a recruitment company would not have their contracts extended, he said.

"They [management] said before the summer break that sales had gone down. When we came back, they said they had gone down further," he said, adding that about 2,000 staff work on the production line at Torslanda.

He said the plant had already been closed for four days before the annual mid-year break, which also had the effect of reducing production.

Figures from European industry group ACEA showed Volvo car sales in the EU and EFTA countries fell 8 percent in the January-June period to 126,826. U.S. sales were down slightly — about 4.5 percent — for the first six months of 2012 at 34,618.

Source: Reuters