Volvo Cars to cut 3,400 jobs

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis　

Stockholm, Dec. 8 (Chinese media) -- Volvo Cars will cut some 3,400 jobs in Sweden and abroad, the Swedish carmaker owned by U.S. giant Ford announced here Monday after the negotiation with the trade union.

2,721 employees in Sweden and an additional 680 employees abroad will leave the company, the company said in a statement.

The majority of the redundant employees will have been released from work at the end of the year, it added.

Volvo is also terminating 1,215 consultant contracts.

"Today is of course a very sad day at Volvo, but I feel satisfied with the fact that our cost reduction program has been successful and it has enabled us to stay with a lower number of redundancies", Stephen Odell, President and CEO of Volvo Car Corporation, said in the statement.

Volvo Cars has a 25,000-strong workforce. Ford has said it was planning to sell the Swedish subsidiary.