Loss-making Swedish car maker Saab, a subsidiary of US giant General Motors, has said it is planning to cut 20% of its work force, or about 1,300 jobs.

Saab said the job cuts, which will be mainly in Sweden, were part of a restructuring to improve the company's financial position from 2003.

"The aggressive efficiency programme presented today aims at enabling the company to substantially improve the financial situation beginning in 2003," said Saab in a statement.

It did not say when it expected to return to profit.

The cuts, which Saab hopes will improve productivity by 20%, include 800 jobs in production, 450 in engineering and 50 in sales and marketing.

GM troubles

GM's European operations have been struggling, along with their competitors, because of overcapacity.

Saab has blame its troubles on the development costs for its new 9-3 saloon, investments at its main plant in Trollhattan and the weakening of the Swedish krona against the dollar.

It hopes the new 9-3, including a station wagon and convertible, will return it to the black.

The company has lost money in 10 of the last 12 years, last reporting profits in 1994 and 1995, and made a loss in the first half of the year of 1.2bn Swedish kronor ($131.4m; �84.7m).

GM Europe is also restructuring its other units, Britain's Vauxhall and Germany's Opel, and has said it will not meet its loss reduction target this year.