More sad news as NEVS lays off staff as Saab output remains idled

China's cash-strapped National Electric Vehicle Sweden said it would lay off up to 200 employees at its Saab car plant in Sweden as production is unlikely to resume anytime soon.

NEVS, which bought the bankrupt Swedish carmaker Saab in 2012, halted already-low output in May because of a shortage of money. In August, it obtained protection from creditors through a Swedish court while trying to secure funding.

"The ongoing discussions on collaboration and ownership structure, which have not yet resulted in a binding agreement, indicate that the decision for a start-up of production will take time," NEVS said in a statement Wednesday.

It said the layoffs, due to lack of work, were a step in a reorganization plan that the company's administrator would present at a creditors' meeting on Oct. 8. NEVS currently has 550 employees.

NEVS has said it was in talks with two unnamed car firms to secure more money, that it has external debt of about 400 million crowns ($56 million), and that it generated a pretax loss last year of 601 million crowns on sales of 41 million crowns ($5.9 million).

The firm is betting on an electric version -- now in a prototype stage -- of a decade-old Saab model to bring the brand back from the dead. It is targeting its home market of China.

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Group Lotus announces workforce cuts, and the possibility to expand into saloon and SUV markets.

UK sports car maker Group Lotus said it plans to cut as many as 325 jobs, a quarter of its workforce, as it seeks to reduce losses.

The company wants to ensure that it has the "right organizational structure in place to achieve its business goals and to build a strong, sustainable future," Lotus said in a statement Thursday.

CEO Jean-Marc Gales said in the statement. "Once the reshaping has been undertaken, and with its strong and experienced management team, Lotus should be a leaner, more competitive organization."

Gales, a former head of brands at PSA/Peugeot-Citroen, was appointed Lotus CEO in May. Lotus is owned by Malaysian industrial group DRB-Hicom.

Group Lotus's cars and engineering units reported a combined loss of 159 million pounds (201 million euros) in the financial year that ended in March 2013, according to the most recently filed company report. The year before the company lost 115 million pounds.

Through June, Lotus increased sales 14 percent to 292 cars in Europe, its biggest market worldwide.

The company’s three sports car models, including the long-running Elise, are well regarded by the motoring media for their dynamic handling but are often criticized for lacking the finesse of rivals from the likes of Porsche.

Lotus hit the headlines four years ago when it showed off five new sports-car concepts at the Paris auto show as part of an ambitious plan to leverage its illustrious heritage and push the brand upmarket to create a British Ferrari.

The plan, however, was abandoned after the Malaysian government sold Lotus-owner Proton in 2012 and former Lotus CEO Dany Bahar left the company in the same year.

Lotus said it would redeploy staff wherever it could to reduce the number of job losses.

Nick Gibbs

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Lada to reduce workforce by 13,000 due to falling sales.

Russia's largest carmaker, AvtoVAZ, said on Friday it expects to cut about 13,000 workers -- up from a previously announced 7,500 -- at its Togliatti plant due to falling sales of its Lada brand.

CEO Bo Andersson said earlier in the year that the situation at AvtoVAZ was extremely bad and people needed a "wake-up call."

AvtoVAZ slumped to a loss last year, and Andersson is battling to revive the company in a touch economic environment amid the crisis over Ukraine.

Through April, Lada's sales in Russia were down 15 percent to 128,633 vehicles in an overall market that dipped 4 percent.

Andersson took over at AvtoVAZ last November after helping turn around Russian bus and truck maker GAZ. Prior to that he was purchasing boss at General Motors.

The latest forecasts by AvtoVAZ, in which French-Japanese alliance Renault-Nissan holds a controlling majority stake, indicate the cuts in Togliatti will be deeper than the 7,500 layoffs the company initially planned.

"The total number of workers at the [Togliatti] plant [in late 2014] will be about 53,000 people," AvtoVAZ said in a response to questions from Reuters.

The company said that at the end of last year, 65,891 people worked at the Togliatti site, which is AvtoVAZ's main base.

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