BERLIN, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- German car manufacturer Opel would start short-time work for a majority of the 2,600 employees at the company's main plant in the German city of Ruesselsheim, a spokesperson of Opel confirmed to Xinhua on Tuesday.
According to Opel, the company had applied for short-time work at the responsible employment agency. The spokesperson said that "short-time work is to start this month and last six months."
The German business newspaper Handelsblatt reported Tuesday that the reduction of work at the Ruesselsheim plant and the application for short-time work would be due to the "weak demand of customers" for the Insignia sedan by Opel.
Sales of the Insignia model from Opel had declined by almost one third from 43,000 units to around 29,500 in the first half of 2019, according to sales figures of Opel's parent company PSA.
Opel used to produce two car models at their main plant in Ruesselsheim. The sedan Insignia is still manufactured at the plant while the production of the minivan Zafira ended in summer 2019.
In June, the French company PSA, which had bought Opel in 2017, announced the relocation of production of the model Astra from Poland to Ruesselsheim from 2021.
