Renault, the French auto giant, prepares to cut around 15,000 jobs globally, including 4,600 in France alone, as part of a US$2.2 billion cost-cutting plan over three years.

The company aims to do the job cuts without redundancies through voluntary departures, internal mobility measures, and retraining.

The auto giant’s annual global production capacity will be downsized from the current four million vehicles to 3.3 million, according to a report. 

Given the COVID-19 pandemic, the auto industry is on the verge of an existential crisis, which has resulted in sales to drop as governments across the world forced its citizens to stay at home. 

The company is also in talks with the French government for a 5-billion-euro state-backed loan. However, the French government has made this conditional that the workers and production will remain in the country. In fact, it also pushed the automaker to join a European initiative on batteries for electric cars.  

France had earlier announced an 8 billion-euro plan to support the auto industry that President Emmanuel Macron said he hoped would help make the country the European leader in the manufacture of electric cars.

Meanwhile, Renault and its partners Nissan and Mitsubishi had launched a plan to strengthen deepen their alliance, a top global producer of cars, that only months ago seemed on the verge of breakup.

Before the COVID-19 crisis, Renault was in turmoil following the departure of the then CEO Carlos Ghosn, who was arrested in Japan over allegations of financial misconduct.