Although the British luxury car manufacturer has already cut 230 jobs in December, now it announced it would fire another 220 employees as the automaker is struggling to cope with the weak demand, drive.com has learned. As a matter of fact, Bentley said it hoped its workers could be persuaded to leave voluntarily, but would not rule out forced redundancies.
In addition, the salaries of the remaining workers will be reduced by 10 percent but at least, they will be able to keep their jobs. But equal treatment will be ensured at all working levels as the salary reductions will also affect the company's chief executive, Franz-Josef Paefgen.
Last month, the top-end car manufacturer, a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, announced it would stop production at its plant in the central English city of Cheshire for seven weeks beginning in March. But it seems further extreme measures are necessary as the British luxury car maker is going through a really difficult time.
In January, the figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders showed vehicle production in Britain dropped by nearly half in the last month of 2008. As for Bentley, it says its sales have fallen by almost a quarter to 7,600 sold in December of last year when compared to December 2007, when 10,000 vehicles were sold.
However, Bentley is not the only British car maker struggling to survive. Other car companies such as Jaguar and Land Rover have already asked for government help to keep them on the floating line.
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