Car maker VDL Nedcar is to scrap 700 jobs currently done by people on staffing agency contracts, the Telegraaf has reported.

The market for new cars is shrinking and the company no longer expects to need hundreds of temporary workers, the paper said. The jobs will be phased out in the final two months of the year, although some workers may be transferred to different locations.

After the cuts, there will be just 400 people on agency contracts at the Born car plant in Limburg, out of a total workforce of 4,800.

VDL Nedcar is the only independent car manufacturer in the Netherlands and has been building models for BMW since mid 2014.