AFP - The Slovenian subsidiary of French auto maker Renault said Wednesday it will have to reduce production and cut 520 jobs due to a shortage of key parts produced in earthquake-hit Japan.
Renault's subsidiary Revoz said the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11 had affected the production of electronic parts needed for vehicles that are being assembled in its Novo Mesto plant, in eastern Slovenia.
"Revoz cannot keep its current volume of production," the company said in a statement.
"Starting on May 23 it will suspend temporarily its night shift," it added.
Some 520 workers with temporary or short-term contracts will also lose their jobs at the plant by the end of the month as a consequence of the measure.
The company currently has some 3,000 workers.
A Revoz union spokesman, Slavko Pungersic, however told Slovenian news agency STA that the company expected to hire back those workers once the delivery of parts from Japan returned to normal.
Revoz is Slovenia's largest exporter and in 2010 the plant produced 210,000 vehicles, mostly the small city cars Twingo and Wind.
