Ford Motor Co, the second largest auto maker in the United States, is preparing to cut as many as 30,000 jobs and close 10 plants as part of a broad restructuring plan, the Detroit News reported Wednesday.

The newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said the measure aims to restore profitability of the company, whose market share is declining.

Ford reported a pretax loss of 1.2 billion US dollar in its North American automotive operations in the third quarter.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported the automaker was preparing to close five plants and slash 7,500 workers.

Ford had a total of 122,877 North American employees at the end of last year and 324,000 employees worldwide.

The automaker has already cut 2,750 workers this year and outlined plans for slashing another 4,000 workers in the first quarter of 2006.

Ford has 23 assembly plants in North America, but is only using around 86 percent of the capacity as compared with 107 percent of its major rival Toyota Motor Corp.

Source: Xinhua