The unfolding financial crisis is dealing a heavy blow to domestic car-makers. China Youth Daily reports four Chinese companies are contemplating job cuts, with some 4,000 to 5,000 workers set to potentially lose their jobs in one of them.

The paper cast doubts over how the redundancy plans will help enterprises overcome the current difficulty. It notes that most of these companies posted good performances before September, but were hit due by soaring production costs and a shortage of demand of late.

The article says the economic upheaval is a wake-up call to the car industry to prepare for a slowdown. It stresses that although many companies may go in for job cuts to deal with an economic downturn, a long-term strategy based on independent branding and optimized production will be of great help.