Ssangyong Motor puts 350 workers on paid leave to trim costs

SEOUL, Oct. 28 (Yonhap) -- Loss-making Ssangyong Motor Co., the South Korean unit of China's Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., said Tuesday it has allowed some 350 workers to take paid leave in an effort to cut costs as sales plunged.

The latest cost-cutting program, which won the union's agreement, was aimed at
"flexibly responding to a global economic recession," Ssangyong Motor said in a
statement.
When contacted by telephone, Kim Beom-seok, an official at Ssangyong's public
relations team, said he was unsure how long the workers will take the paid-leave
or how much they will be paid.
In the first nine months of this year, Ssangyong's vehicle sales declined 30.2
percent to 66,793 units.
Domestic sales for the nine-month period fell 31.9 percent to 31,762 units and
exports slipped 28.5 percent to 35,031 units.
Since early this year, Ssangyong, South Korea's smallest automaker, has been hit
hard by high oil prices because its line-up is dominated by fuel-guzzling
sport-utility vehicles and large-size sedans.
The poor sales prompted Ssangyong to cut its 2008 sales target by as much as 44
percent to 80,000 vehicles, according to the company's union.
The carmaker had originally planned to sell 141,800 vehicles this year, compared
with 131,637 units sold last year.
For the second-quarter of this year, Ssangyong posted a net loss of 69.9 billion
won (US$48 million) on sales of 1.32 trillion won.
(END)

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