As Europe's auto market retracts for a sixth straight year in a row, Renault will cut 17 percent of its French workforce in the next four years to reduce costs.

That means that Renault will cut jobs by 7,500 through 2016 at its French operations.

Renault expect that 5,700 of these jobs will be lost through attrition but notified unions today that the cuts are needed to reach the break-even level at its automotive operations in France,

Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn said in an interview earlier today at the Detroit Motor Show that the European market will drop another 3 percent this year, after the region's auto sales fell in 2012 to a two-decade low.

PSA/Peugeot-Citroen, Ford Motor Co., and General Motors Co., are all trimming their European workforces and closing plants in response to plunging demand in the region.

PSA is eliminating 11,200 French jobs, or 17 percent of its workforce, and closing a factory on the outskirts of Paris. GM is closing a plant in Bochum, Germany, threatening 3,100 positions, while Ford is shutting three European factories and cutting 5,700 posts in the region.

Renault is not planning any plant closings in France according to  Ghosn.