Barcelona - The Volkswagen subsidiary Seat will reduce the working hours of about two-thirds of its 11,000 Spanish employees to make up for declining demand, the company announced Thursday.

The employees will rotate in working less hours until Seat begins producing the Audi Q3 model in mid-2011.

Seat made losses of 228 million euros (340 million dollars) in the first nine months of 2009, sinking deeper into red figures.

However, the carmaker expects to produce nearly 230,000 vehicles at its two Barcelona factories in 2010, 20,000 more than this year. (dpa)