Ssangyong Motor to cut up to 2,900 jobs: source

SEOUL, April 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Ssangyong Motor Co., currently under bankruptcy protection, is set to slash up to 2,900 jobs as part of a turnaround plan, a source said Tuesday.

Samjong KPMG Inc., an auditor for Ssangyong, has completed its due diligence and
delivered the restructuring guidelines to the automaker, which was making the
final adjustments to its job-cut plan, the source said on condition of anonymity.
"The plan calls for Ssangyong to cut 2,200-2,900 employees, or 30-40 percent of
total workforce," the source said.
Officials at Ssangyong's public relations team declined to confirm the size of
job cuts, but said the company will make an announcement on Wednesday.
If made, the cuts would be the first mass layoffs by a South Korean company since
the onset of the global economic crisis in September last year.
Abandoned by its Chinese parent, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC),
Ssangyong entered court receivership in February as sales collapsed and cash
dried up. If the turnaround plan is deemed unviable, creditors will liquidate it.

Last week, Lee Yoo-il, one of two court-appointed managers at Ssangyong,
indicated the company may cut jobs to survive.
"The auditor may judge that Ssangyong Motor's survival would be more valuable
than its liquidation," Lee said on the sidelines of the 2009 Seoul Motor Show.
Ssangyong, which has an annual production capacity of 200,000 vehicles, posted a
net loss of 709.7 billion won (US$535.9 million) in 2008 on sales of 2.5 trillion
won, down 20 percent from a year earlier.
Last month, Ssangyong's vehicle sales plunged 75.7 percent to 2,458 units as
consumers shunned the purchase of the potentially bankrupt company's vehicles.
In the first three months of this year, Ssangyong's sales dived 76 percent to
6,471 units.
With the bankruptcy protection, SAIC, which still holds a 51-percent stake in
Ssangyong, relinquished its control of the South Korean carmaker.
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