Car maker VDL Nedcar is to scrap 750 jobs, mostly involving people on staffing agency contracts, because of falling car sales.

‘Despite a small respite in the previous quarter, the car market will remain under pressure next year,’ director Paul van Vuuren told broadcaster 1Limburg.

After the cuts, there will be just 4,000 people working at Nedcar, down from 7,000 at the company’s 2018 peak.

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

However, the company’s future has been thrown into doubt since October, when BMW said it would stop making cars at the plant in Born. Instead, BMW plans to concentrate production at its own factories, including that of the Mini, which is currently produced in the Netherlands.