BERLIN, Aug 2 (AFP) - The world's largest automaker, General Motors, said Monday it planned further job cuts in Europe as part of a radical overhaul of its business on the continent.
"It's clear, we have too many people drawing a salary," GM vice chairman of product development, Bob Lutz, told the Wednesday issue of German magazine Auto Motor und Sport.
He declined to say how many of GM's 60,000 jobs in Europe would be slashed, but company sources said the cuts would primarily affect administrative services. About half of its employees -- some 32,000 -- work for the German unit Opel.
GM Europe, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland but which largely comprises Opel, has been in the red since 1999.
The division's number two, Carl-Peter Forster, said two weeks ago that the company was losing hope that its European activities would return to profit this year and that new layoffs could not be ruled out.
Since the start of a two-billion-euro (2.4-billion-dollar) cost-cutting drive in 2001, GM has eliminated 2,500 jobs in Europe.
But GM continues to cede market share in Europe and posted a net loss of 286 million dollars (238 million euros) last year.
In a push to turn the loss-making European business around, GM announced last month that it was reining in its European units, Opel, Saab and Vauxhall, pooling key functions such as finance, engineering, purchasing, manufacturing, marketing and planning and moving them to Switzerland.
The reorganization is expected to save GM Europe hundreds of millions of euros, Forster said.