PSA Peugeot Citroen chief executive has said the carmaker could resort to compulsory redundancies, contradicting previous reports.

Christian Streiff told the Financial Times about the possible decision as he announced a net loss of 343 million Euros (£309m) against a profit of 885 million Euros (£779.7m) for 2007.

He said: "Yes, it is possible that we could have compulsory redundancies. It depends on the legislation of each country."

However he insisted the bulk of the 11,000 jobs to be cut from the firm's 200,000 workforce this year would be in France.

He also said no other country would be disadvantaged by the conditions imposed by France's six billion Euro (£5.4b) bail out for the country's automotive industry.

However Streiff's comments conflict with the fact the company has previously pledged not to close factories or impose compulsory redundancies.