UPDATE 1-Bosch may cut jobs abroad in automotive ops

* Bosch will not renew some contracts to reduce headcount

* Says to cut working hours in some factories to 30 per week

* Says could cut some jobs outside Germany

(Adds Bosch spokesman comments)

BERLIN/FRANKFURT, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Robert Bosch [ROBG.UL] plans to reduce costs in its automotive division by not renewing temporary workers' contracts and possibly cutting jobs outside its German home market, a company spokesman said on Saturday.

"We are currently using all instruments that we have to avoid job cuts," the spokesman said, denying a report that Bosch planned to eliminate up to 2,000 jobs in the division.

In some factories in Germany, the company would reduce the number of hours its employees worked every week to 30 from 35 to lower personnel costs.

Job cuts were possible outside Germany "where we cannot make use of such flexible employment models", the spokesman said, without saying how many workers may have to go.

German weekly auto "motor und sport" earlier cited Bernd Bohr, head of Bosch's automotive division as saying Bosch could cut jobs around the world to reduce costs after sales in October and November slumped by 20 percent.

In an interview to be published on Thursday, Bohr had also said Bosch planned to reduce investments in machines and equipment and postpone some construction projects, he said.

"Until September everything looked good," after which sales dipped, Bohr said. He said he expected sales to deteriorate further in December.

The world's biggest automotive supplier by sales said on Friday it would "badly miss" its 2008 targets and expected no growth in 2009 as the global economic downturn hits home.

In the automotive division, which has about 66,000 workers in Germany, full-year sales would decline by a single-digit percentage, having gained 5 percent in 2007, Bohr told auto motor und sport.

"And we expect that the first quarter of 2009 will be about like the last quarter of 2008," Bohr said, adding the company was optimistic that the current market downturn would not last more than a year. (Reporting by Maria Sheahan and Angelika Stricker; editing by Michael Roddy)