Ssangyong Motor shuts down plants for 10 days

Ssangyong Motor Co., the South Korean unit of China's Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., said Tuesday it has halted operations at all of its plants for 10 working days to cope with a sharp slump in sales.

The company said the halt at its Pyeongtaek and Changwon plants will be maintained until Jan. 4.

"The decision to close the plants was reached after consultation with the union," a company spokesperson said. He added that the halt in production is necessary to deal with the sharp fall in demand for sport utility vehicles. The company took similar steps earlier in the year to cope with a rise in inventory and drop in sales.

South Korea's other carmakers have also temporarily halted work as the global economic slump dampens consumer demand in both domestic and overseas markets.

In the third quarter of this year, Ssangyong lost 28.2 billion won (US$21.2 million), marking its fourth consecutive quarterly loss. Last month, the automaker's sales plummeted 63 per cent from a year earlier to 3,835 units.