PSA Peugeot Citroën is to stop vehicle production for a week at its factory near Paris as it tries to cope with the weak new-car market.
The shutdown at Aulnay-sous-Bois follows the cancellation of shifts and cuts to working hours at other European factories, designed to reduce production by 73,000 vehicles in the second half of this year. And in Brazil, where new car demand has been worst hit, Peugeot plans a 45-day closure of its local factory at the end of the year.
The production cuts have taken the gloss off Peugeot's growth story just as currency losses threaten to prevent it from meeting profit targets for the first time since Jean-Martin Folz took over as chief executive six years ago.
Peugeot said the cutback was in line with its plan of reducing stocks to one month's production, against 1.3 months at the end of June.
"It isn't something that is necessarily alarming because it is part of the general strategy of trying to reduce inventories," the company said. The French car market has been the worst performing in Europe.