Japanese truck and car maker Isuzu Motors announced it would cut a fourth of its global work force after reporting a second straight year of losses.

According to published reports, Isuzu plans to trim 9,700 jobs by 2004 through attrition, a hiring freeze and voluntary early retirement. The company makes light- and medium-duty commercial trucks for the U.S. market as well as for Japan.
The job cuts are part of a three-year restructuring plan to put the company back in the black.
General Motors, which owns just under half of the company, sent the head of its truck division to Japan to help oversee a cut in excess capacity.
Last month, Isuzu announced a management shake-up, replacing its chief executive and naming Randall Schwartz, the former head of GM's truck group, as vice president.