PARIS (Reuters) – Renault announced on Tuesday the abolition of around 300 temporary work stations at the end of their contract in the Sandouville vans (Seine -Maritime), a reflection of the global market of the utility vehicle (seen) light at the beginning of 2025 because of the macroeconomic uncertainties.
The diamond group, which employs 600 temporary workers in Sandouville, made this announcement to representatives of the employees gathered in CSE, a spokesperson for the manufacturer told Reuters. The factory, which in 2024 experienced a production record for its traffic van, also employs 1,700 people.
“The beginning of the year is a little difficult on the utility vehicle (seen), it is first linked to the general economic principle which makes that today the atmosphere is still not the chest that we have known,” said BFM Business Jean-Dominique Senard, President of Renault on Monday evening.
According to estimates by the diamond group, the European light utility vehicle market was down 14.9% in February, after -9.2% in January. With 310,459 registrations last year, the Renault brand was a leader in Europe in this segment considered as a barometer of general economic perspectives.
Part of the temporary workers whose contract is not renewed could however find a post in Sandouville.
Despite the start of the gloomy year, the Renault spokesman said that the recruitment plan for 550 employees on fixed-term contracts and permanent contracts by 2028, linked to the rise of the Flexivan electric van project, remained topical.
It is the second site of utility vehicles in three months when Renault reduces the number of its temporary workers, after the announcement in January of the non-renewal of around 700 contracts at the end of the mission, out of around 1,100 temporary workers, in the Batilly factory (Moselle).
The site, which also employs 2,000 employees and has in turn recorded a production record in 2023, must now adapt to the vagaries of demand but also, explains Renault, to the river rise of the new Grand Grand Four Master, whose production gradually started last year.
(Gilles Guillaume report, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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