Ssangyong Motor Co, a South Korean sports utility vehicle (SUV) maker under court receivership, plans to cut 40 percent of its workforce in a bid for a survival, a local newspaper reported.
Ssangyong will notify its unionised workers that it will fire 2,800-2,900 employees out of a total 7,200, the Maeil Business Newspaper reported in its early Tuesday edition without citing sources.
The company, majority-owned by top Chinese auto maker SAIC Motor Corp, is considering job cuts but has not yet decided how many, Ssangyong spokesman Chung Mu-young said.
The maker of the Rexton SUV plans to announce measures for survival on Wednesday, he added.
"We will announce overall plans for our survival, which may include job cuts on Wednesday. But we have not decided the size (of job cuts)," Chung said by telephone.
Last week, a court-appointed president said the company was mulling job cuts.
In February, a South Korean court accepted a filing for bankruptcy protection from the company.
Ssangyong's sales fell 76 percent in the first three months of 2009 from a year ago.
Shares in Ssangyong ended up 2.72 percent at 1,320 won, outperforming a 1.10 percent gain in South Korea's main stock index.
