Aston Martin has today said it is to slash 500 jobs as car sales plummet.
The sports maker is looking to reduce costs by £10 million and will launch the employee consultation process in the coming days.
The company also plans to reduce its sports car production in order "to rebalance supply to demand".
Aston Martin said: "The measures announced today will right-size the organisational structure and bring the cost base into line with reduced sports car production levels, consistent with restoring profitability.
"Aston Martin will shortly launch a consultation process on proposals to reduce employee numbers by up to 500, reflecting lower than originally planned production volumes and improved productivity across the business."
Aston added that alongside the job cuts, it would also reduce budgets for contractors, marketing and travel.
Since listing in October 2018 Aston has been hit by weak sales and mounting debts, resulting in a string of profit warnings.
Earlier this year Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll put together a rescue package for the company. Since then the company has undergone numerous changes and last week chief executive Andy Palmer was sacked. It said at the time coronavirus has exacerbated its sales woes with vehicles sold halving in the first three months this year.
Palmer is set to be replaced as chief executive by Tobias Moers, who currently runs Mercedes-AMG, which is the German manufacturer’s high-performance division.
The announcement comes as another hammer-blow for the fast car industry which has suffered as people have been forced to stay at home under lockdown.
Last week supercar maker McLaren Group announced 1,200 jobs will be lost across its operations, representing around a quarter of its workforce. The Woking based firm has also been forced to mortgage its Surrey headquarters and historic car collection.
Meanwhile fresh figures this morning showed that car sales in the UK had fallen off a cliff.
According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, just 20,000 new cars were sold in May
Car showrooms across the UK were closed for the whole of May as coronavirus meant people were locked in their homes.
They have been able to reopen in England since Monday as long as they meet the Government’s coronavirus guidelines to protect customers and workers.
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