Workers walking past a site map at the PSA Peugeot Citroen La Janais plant near Rennes, western France. The carmaker faces a first-half loss of €700 million this year.

Struggling French carmaker PSA Peugeot-Citroen has announced a drastic cost-cutting plan to slash 8,000 jobs in France and close a factory north of Paris as it faces diving sales in crisis-hit southern Europe.

Union members vowed to try to fight back and plan protests.

Company management announced the job cuts and closure plan during a meeting with its worker representatives. The company, which warns it faces a first-half loss of €700 million this year, is trying to save €1 billion as it struggles to compete in Europe’s fiercely competitive car market.

It is suffering particularly amid a slump in sales in the recession-hit south of Europe. Its sales plunged 20 per cent in Europe in the first quarter.

The restructuring plan includes the closure of Peugeot-Citroen’s Aulnay-sous-Bois factory, one of the biggest car plants in France and seen as a bastion of car-making and of car workers’ unions.

The company will also cut 1,400 jobs at its Rennes factory and 3,600 jobs in other French sites.

CEO Philippe Varin, grim-faced, told reporters that the company is losing about €100 million per month. “No one will be left along the side of the road,” he pledged.

The company is hoping a new alliance with General Motors Corporation will allow it to return to long-term profitability.