Porsche Audi VW and BMW

[cletus8269]

* Porsche schedules 8 days of production stops at main plant

* Volkswagen may stop production in Wolfsburg for 3 weeks

* Audi says production halts are a precaution

* BMW says will cut further 400 temporary jobs in Leipzig

* Porsche shares down 8.8 pct, VW down 17.7 pct

(Adds Audi production stops, BMW temporary job cuts)

FRANKFURT, Nov 25 (Reuters) - German carmakers made another move to cut output levels towards the end of the year to offset slumping demand as the global economic crisis prompts consumers and companies to closely monitor their finances.

Sports car maker Porsche (PSHG_p.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) halted production at its headquarters in the southern German town of Zuffenhausen, for one day on Nov. 21, and planned to stop assembly for another seven days until end-January.

The company said on Tuesday it no longer saw its financial year unit sales to end-July reaching the previous same period's level of 98,652 vehicles.

The German car industry accounts for about one in eight jobs in the country, according to German auto industry association VDA. The downturn in car sales has also started having an impact on other sectors such as chemicals and electronics.

Volkswagen (VOWG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), in which Porsche holds 42.6 percent of the shares, earlier said it was also considering suspending production, eyeing a three-week halt at its main Wolfsburg plant from Dec. 18 until Jan. 11.

VW luxury vehicle unit Audi followed suit. A spokesman for the company said the carmaker's orders have been stable, and the production halts were preventative measures.

Domestic peer BMW (BMWG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) had suspended production at its factory in Leipzig for a week last month and is currently operating only one shift a day there.

The company now plans to cut 400 further temporary workers in Leipzig, in addition to previously announced plans to cut 8,100 full-time jobs around the world, a spokesman for the company told Reuters on Tuesday.

At 1559 GMT, shares in Porsche were down 8.8 percent to 51.07 euros. Volkswagen had slipped 17.7 percent to 271.38 euros and BMW was down 2.4 percent to 19.245 euros. The DJ Stoxx European autos index was down 6.3 percent. (Reporting by Maria Sheahan, Jan Schwartz, Irene Preisinger; Editing by Andrew Macdonald)

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssAutoTru...P56414020081125