Volvo Car to Slash Up to 1,500 Jobs in Effort to Cut Costs by $131 Million This Year

STOCKHOLM, Sweden August 23, 2005; AP The AP reported that Volvo Car Corp. said it will slash between 1,000 and 1,500 jobs as part of an effort to cut costs by $131 million this year.

The automaker, which is owned by Ford Motor Co., has been hit hard by a weak dollar, rising raw materials prices and stiff competition in North America and Europe, Volvo spokesman Olle Axelsson said.

All of Volvo's operations will be affected by the cost-cutting package, but most of the job cuts will be at the car maker's facilities in Goteborg, in southwestern Sweden, Axelsson said.

Volvo Car has 20,000 employees in Sweden and 8,000 in other countries, most of them in the United States.