Paris - Reacting to plunging sales because of the economic and financial crisis, French carmaker PSA Peugeot-Citroen said Thursday it would cut another 3,550 jobs.

The move involves 2,700 workers "from all sites and in all group departments," and will be based on voluntary departures, the company said.

Another 850 jobs will be cut at the manufacturer's plant in the western French city of Rennes.

These job cuts are in addition to 15,000 redundancies that have been carried out by the group since 2007, primarily at its French sites.

"The financial and industrial crisis which is hitting the whole economy has led to a violent drop in the group's sales volumes on the main European markets," Peugeot-Citroen said.

The company said sales will fall by some 17 per cent in Europe in the fourth quarter of the year, and added that the recession will almost certainly continue well into next year, with a minimum sales decline of 10 per cent.

"This has led PSA Peugeot-Citroen to urgently develop new action plans, in addition to measures already undertaken which have resulted in a reduction in costs, a drop in plant capacity and short-time working," Peugeot-Citroen said.

As a result, production for the fourth quarter will be about 30 per cent less than the company had foreseen, and 20 per cent below what it was in the same period last year.

Company human resources head Jean-Luc Vergne said that the company regretted the measures. "But doing nothing would be worse, possibly throwing into question... the very survival of the group and its 200,000 jobs."

Peugeot-Citroen shares have lost three-quarters of their value since the beginning of the year. At noon on Thursday, they were down by more than 4 per cent, to 12.75 euros. (dpa)