SEAT Removes 330 Jobs in Spain

Unfortunately for all those involved in the auto industry, the economic environment continues to remain extremely unstable and every single drop in demand leads to significant measures in this particular sector. SEAT is the latest major name that turned to job cuts to counteract a decrease in demand, with the Spanish manufacturer eliminating 330 non-production jobs in its domestic factories.

According to just-auto.com, such a measure translates into laying off around 6 percent of its entire workforce, as SEAT currently employs around 5,750 people in other areas than production.

In detail, out from the 330 jobs to be eliminated, 130 will come from early retirement, the aforementioned source noted.

This isn't the first time when SEAT has to turn to this kind of measures to cope with the economic chaos. Back in early 2009, almost one year ago, the Spanish manufacturer asked its employees to choose between a two-year salary freeze in return for building the new Audi Q3.

Forced by the economic recession, SEAT had to lower production and cut the workforce in an attempt to save as much money as possible. If the Q3 production wasn't accepted, around 1,500 workers had to leave the company under a restructuring plan for the Spanish factories. Around 65 percent of the employees accepted the proposal.

The Q3 will after all be produced at the Spanish production facility in Martorell starting with 2011, with the initial production figures pointing to 80,000 units. Volkswagen, SEAT's parent company, will invest a total of 300 million Euros in the plant to prepare the assembly lines for hosting the Q3.