Peugeot head meets French PM

The head of struggling carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen met with Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Monday ahead of the government's announcement of a major shake-up of France's car sector. Phillipe Varin repeated his promise that the firm would do its best to find alternatives for the 8,000 workers it plans to lay off and to save its historic Aulnay plant north of Paris. Varin told reporters after the meeting that he had "made the commitment that each worker finds a solution to his employment problem" and said none would be brutally let go. Peugeot, the biggest French carmaker and second in Europe to Germany's Volkswagen, came under fire after announcing this month plans to cut the 8,000 jobs and to possibly close the Aulnay plant because of falling European sales. The job cuts dealt a blow to President Francois Hollande's efforts to get France's economy back on track amid concerns the country could be heading for a recession after an expected contraction in the second quarter. The government has named an expert to look at Peugeot's finances and will on Wednesday announce a programme to reboot the automobile sector -- including "massive support" for high-tech and environmentally friendly vehicles. Earlier Monday, Peugeot said it had reached a deal to provide Japan's Toyota with light commercial vehicles for sale in Europe. The two firms said in a statement that PSA will provide Toyota with medium-sized vans derived from its existing vehicles and the two companies will then work together on developing a new generation of vehicles.