With Chevrolet pulling out of Europe, GM’s South Korean operations will take a heavy blow, as the Old Continent is one of the country’s major export destinations for cars.

GM said Chevrolet sales in Europe would end by 2016, but the Detroit carmaker has already revealed plans to launch a “voluntary retirement” scheme for around 6,000 salaried employees in South Korea by next March, according to a Reuters report.

“This is part of our ongoing efforts to enhance operating efficiency,” GM Korea spokesman, Park Hae-ho, told the news agency, without revealing any specific numbers about the job reductions.

GM has been slowly but steadily cutting jobs and production at its South Korean operations over the past few years. In fact, this is the fourth round of job reductions since 2009, while GM has said that it would not manufacture the next Chevrolet Cruze in the country and that it would move a large portion of Opel Mokka production to Spain next year.

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