The stricken US car giant Ford today unveiled plans to slash its salaried staff by 14,000 - one-third of its white-collar workforce.
The second biggest car company in the US also said it would offer early retirement to its entire 75,000-strong US hourly workforce.
Ford said the plan would cut costs by around $5bn (£2.6bn) annually by the end of 2008, and warned that its troubled North American operations would not be profitable before 2009 - a year later than projected.
The company's third restructuring in five years replaces the initial Way Forward plan, announced in January, which called for the cutting of up to 30,000 jobs and the closure of 14 plants by 2012.
"These actions have painful consequences for communities and many of our loyal employees," Bill Ford, the chairman, said.
"But rapid shifts in consumer demand that affect our product mix, and continued high prices for commodities, mean we must continue working quickly and decisively to fix our business."
Analysts responded positively to Ford's plan. "The plan is realistic for the company and its employees," Alan Gover, a partner at Dewey Ballantine's, a bankruptcy specialist firm, said.
"However Ford got here, it now seems to understand it cannot stay here and survive as a profitable business. A lot of people have made a lot of mistakes, but that's history. Ford finally seems to want to have a future."
Alan Mulally, who replaced Mr Ford as the chief executive last week, said the steps were needed to ensure the company's turnaround in its most important market.
Mr Mulally made his reputation in helping to revive the US aircraft manufacturer Boeing.
"Turnarounds of this magnitude succeed when capacity and costs are aligned with a realistic expectation of demand," he said. "These actions are certainly consistent with that goal.
"We will focus intensely on the needs of our customers in North America, and around the world, by pulling forward new products and creating new markets."
Ford's buyouts are similar to those made to hourly workers at General Motors, America's biggest car company, earlier this year. There, 35,000 people agreed to leave the company.
The two US car giants face the biggest crisis in their history because of a mix of increased competition from Japanese rivals and a decline in the popularity of profitable petrol-guzzling pickup trucks and sports utility vehicles.
Ford lost $1.4bn in the first half of the year amid falling sales of pickup trucks and SUVs. The company has indicated that it could lose $9bn for the year as a whole.
It is particularly vulnerable because its only other really big seller is the Ford Mustang. The lack of other popular models has proved to be lethal at a time when customers are turning away from its big cars.
Ford will cut production of vehicles for North America to 3.6m units by the end of 2008, down 26% from 2005 and in line with consumer demand. It will mean closing production at nine plants, including the seven already announced.
The company has already announced that it is considering selling its Aston Martin arm as part of its huge retrenchment programme. Aston Martin belongs to Ford's luxury car division, which also includes Jaguar and Land Rover.
