FORD Motor Corporation's Volvo subsidiary tripled its planned job cuts to 6,000 positions, citing a "rapidly deteriorating" global car market.

Volvo Car Corp will eliminate a further 4,000 positions, bringing total reductions of employees and consultants to 6,000, the Sweden-based division of Ford said in a statement yesterday.

"The unstable economic environment has resulted in a very unpredictable situation, and the downturn in the global car industry is more drastic than expected," Volvo Chief Executive Officer Stephen Odell said in the statement.

Volvo earnings for this year's second half will be worse than in the first six months, Michigan-based Ford said on October 2, reversing a forecast for improvement. The Swedish unit had a pretax loss of US$271 million in the first half, Bloomberg News said.

Volvo, Ford's sole remaining Europe-based brand, disclosed plans to cut 2,000 of its 24,300 positions on June 25 because of the weak United States dollar, rising raw material prices and falling sales.