Volkswagen is to cut 400 jobs in South Africa as it scales back production there due to falling domestic and export demand.


The company said it would halt production in the last week of February and during the weeks before and after the Easter weekend and would lay off 400 workers, on a voluntary basis, Reuters reported.


The automaker, which builds a full range of vehicles from cars to heavy trucks in South Africa, said the short-term fall in demand did not affect its commitment to the country and it would not alter its plans to invest in technology in the next two to three years and to make more car parts there.


Volkswagen exported more than a third of the 92,000 vehicles it produced in South Africa last year, the report said.


It expects the domestic vehicle market to fall 10% in 2009.