The decision comes after the carmaker's elimination of 2,500 other positions in a move to cut expenses as part of a wider cost-cutting programme.

Head of BMW personnel Ernst Baumann told reporters in Munich that the job eliminations would include 2,500 full-time workers and 2,500 temporary workers, as well as 600 other positions.

He said the cuts would bring the company's total up to 8,100 position eliminations, representing around 7.5 per cent of its work force worldwide.

Baumann warned there were more job cuts to come if the US dollar continued to struggle.

In September, BMW chief Norbert Reithofer unveiled a five-year plan that was designed to produce a profit margin of 10 percent by 2012.