Sluggish economic growth and trading uncertainties are hitting light-commercial-vehicle demand, prompting Renault to plan 300 job cuts in one of its French van plants.

Renault, a market leader with about 14% overall vehicle sales in the LCV sector, confirms it will make the labor cuts during a radio interview by Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard with BFM Business.

Jobs will be lost at the Sandouville plant in Normandy employing 1,700 full-time workers and 600 interim staff.

This follows similar rationalization at Renault’s Batilly plant, in the Meurthe-et-Moselle region of Alsace in northeast France, that is planning production of a new model while not renewing 700 temp contracts.

Senard highlights the challenge of a tough trading environment expected during 2025 which has already seen a 14.9% drop in LCV sales in January and another 9.2% drop in February year-on-year.

He tells the radio station, “It's related firstly to the general economy, which currently is not the happiest that we've known.”