Up to 650 people working for Volvo Trucks North America will be cut next month at its Dublin plant in southwest Virginia.

The layoffs are the second round since November 2006, when about one-third of plant’s 3,170 work force was let go. Many of those workers were rehired, and the plant now has 970 workers, Volvo spokesman Jim McNamara said in an e-mail Friday to The Associated Press.

The 2008 layoffs, which will occur at the end of January, are permanent, he said.

McNamara said the new job cuts reflect “current market demand.”

The 1.6 million-square-foot (0.15 million sq. meter) New River Plant is the largest Volvo truck manufacturing center in the world. It manufactures 148 vehicles daily.

Workers were informed of the layoffs on Nov. 20.