UPDATE 1-Renault will cut output further if needed-CEO
(adds quotes and details)
PARIS, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Renault (RENA.PA) CEO Carlos Ghosn on Thursday welcomed French government measures to help the struggling auto industry, but warned that further production cuts would be necessary if markets deteriorated further.
Ghosn was responding to a 26 billion euro ($32.81 billion) package of measures to boost the flagging French economy unveiled earlier in the day by President Nicolas Sarkozy, which included steps to help the automobile industry, where sales have tumbled as the credit crunch hits consumer confidence. [ID:nL1337831]
Under the auto plan, customers trading in old vehicles, for newer, cleaner replacements will get a 1,000 euro bonus. The government also plans to make a 1 billion euro credit line available to car financing units to ensure customers can continue buying cars on credit.
Ghosn said the measures were "very positive", adding that he still sees credit as "the number one problem" for the industry.
He told journalists on a conference call that the company had no short-term plans to announced further job cuts, but that if the automobile markets continued to fall, the company would have to cut production further.
Renault, France's second-largest carmaker behind PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA), has already pledged to cut 6,000 jobs across Europe and is shutting many of its sites for several weeks in December.
Ghosn said Sarkozy's warning that the government would not help companies that moved production abroad, would not affect its plans for a factory in Tangiers, Morocco, to build the Logan low-cost vehicle as it was a car that could not be produced in France.
Sarkozy said earlier on Thursday that he was ready to do everything to save the automobile industry but added, "I will not let French industrial resources be dismantled."
A Renault spokeswoman said earlier that the group was not in talks with either Saab (SAABb.ST) or Volvo (VOLVb.ST), following speculation that it was interested in taking a stake in one or both of the manufacturers, as the crisis prompted talk of more consolidation in the industry.
(Reporting by Helen Massy-Beresford; Editing by Hans Peters)
