Mazda Motor plans to cut 250 jobs, a quarter of its staff in Europe and the United States, in fiscal 2012, as it reorganises sales management in Japan and overseas, the Nikkei reported.

Mazda plans to reduce staff in the United States, where it has sales sections in California and Michigan, by 20% to around 550 workers, the paper said, according to Reuters.

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Mazda spokesman Jay Amestoy said the company would not eliminate jobs in the United States. But earlier this month, 107 of Mazda’s US employees signed up to take buyouts as part of a restructuring of US operations.

The Japanese automaker, which has posted losses for four straight years on sluggish sales and a strong yen, will reduce staff at its subsidiary in Germany by a third to just under 200 workers, the Nikkei said.

The company does not plan to cut jobs in Japan but will reorganise sales administration operations in June by relocating certain workers to its head office in Hiroshima from the Tokyo and Osaka offices, the daily reported.

Mazda said in a statement issued in Japan on Friday it was consolidating a number of departments – including several focused on China – leading to the elimination of several.

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