Renault Samsung Offers Buyouts to Korean Workers

Renault SA's South Korean Renault Samsung Motors unit says it will launch a voluntary early retirement program to shed an unspecified number of employees.

The move is part of Renault Samsung's effort to cut fixed costs and improve cash flow to cope with a one-third plunge in global sales in the first seven months of this year. Europe, where sales are slumping, is the Korean carmaker's biggest export market.

Renault Samsung says 4,500 of its 5,500 employees are eligible for buyouts. R&D staffers are excluded. Workers will receive retirement pay plus a bonus of as much as 24 months' pay, depending on years of service. Korean media report that hundreds of jobs may be eliminated.

Employees have until Sept. 7 to accept offers. The company denies speculation that it might fire workers if too few of them volunteer to leave.

Renault Samsung's revival plan also includes an agreement to build 80,000 Nissan Rogue SUVs annually at its underutilized plant in Busan, Korea. But the arrangement with Renault alliance partner Nissan won't start until 2014.