More than 800 Bentley and Rolls-Royce workers are to be put on a three-day week until at least the new year because of a 60% collapse in US sales of the luxury cars since September 11, the company said yesterday.

The company, owned by Volkswagen, said production workers would work three days a week from October 29 until January 7 when it hopes to restore normal working.

"However, because of the unique global and political situation, nobody can say definitively that will be the case," a spokeswoman said. The 2,500 staff at Crewe, Cheshire, will take an extra three days off during the two-week Christmas holiday.

The employees on short-time working will lose no pay as the company operates a "time banking" system whereby staff "pay back" the time they owe when demand rises. VW plans to raise Bentley output from 1,500 to 9,000 units a year from 2003.

Bentley, which accounts for 80% of company output, has seen US sales rise 12% so far this year: from 404 to 450. The forecast US market, which makes up 45% of of global sales, has plummeted since September 11.

Overall, global sales rose 3.2% in the nine months to September from 1,012 to 1,045, despite a 10% drop in the UK from 334 to 301.

Rolls-Royce has seen British sales drop by a third this year from 62 to 42.