Budapest - The German engineering giant Bosch confirmed on Friday that it is to close down a unit in central Hungary where it manufactures car stereos.

Peter Dallos, the financial director of the Bosch-owned Digital Disc Drives plant in the Hungarian town of Kecskemet, told the local news agency MTI that orders were down by over half in the past few months as the crisis in the automotive industry deepens.

The factory currently employs about 500 workers. Dallos said that the Hungarian plant, which uses manual labour to assemble CD players for use in cars, can no longer compete with suppliers in Asia.

The closure of the Bosch subsidiary is the latest in a recent string of job losses in the automotive sector in Hungary.

On Thursday Syncreon, which provides logistics services exclusively for the German carmaker Audi's plant in north west Hungary, confirmed that it was laying off 400 of its staff of 1,400.

Earlier this month, Bosch laid off 250 workers at its largest Hungarian plant 60 kilometres east of the capital Budapest.

Suzuki announced this week that it would be cutting back on overtime and fringe benefits for its employees. At the end of November 1,200 workers were made redundant at the Japanese carmaker's Hungarian plant in the wake of falling orders.

A running tally by local news website index. hu of jobs lost in all sectors since the financial crisis hit Hungary hard in October last year stood at 22,198 on Friday afternoon. (dpa)