Renault Trucks Logo signIn news that we fear may be repeated across Europe and for different truck manufacturers, Renault Trucks has announced that some 463 white collar positions will be going in France.

The company puts the job losses firmly at the door of the Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing loss of demand.  In a statement, the company said:

After several years of strong demand where customers have massively renewed their truck fleets, Renault Trucks sees its business activities impacted by the global economic crisis post COVID-19, and by the slowdown in demand for industrial vehicles. The manufacturer is planning to adjust its workforce in France to restore competitiveness and secure long-term growth.

Renault Trucks is anticipating a significant drop in the truck market in 2020 and does not expect economic activity to return to pre-crisis levels in the short- and medium term.

The company is already feeling the effects of the economic fragility of the transport sector and predicts a lasting slowdown in customer demand. The immediate consequence of this situation is a significant drop in revenue.

At the same time as the job losses were announced, Renault Trucks is considering creating new jobs by ‘insourcing’ certain activities, which would mitigate the scale of job losses.

Bruno Blin, President of Renault Trucks SAS  explains:

Adjusting our organization and reducing our costs is imperative for the sustainability of our business and that of our partners and suppliers. Our will is to rely solely on voluntary departure measures and internal redeployment, and thus not to make any forced layoffs.

Renault Trucks has not mentioned any job losses in the UK.