GAZ talking with Western carmakers to boost sales

* President says talks with potential partners ongoing

* Targets 25 pct sales increase in 2010 to 84 bln roubles

* Cut workforce by 36 percent during autos crisis

MOSCOW, March 16 (Reuters) - Russian car-maker GAZ (GAZA.RTS) is in talks with more than one potential Western partner as it targets a 25 percent sales rise in 2010, the head of the company told reporters on Tuesday.

The company, controlled by industrial tycoon Oleg Deripaska, remains the only major Russian player without support from a Western manufacturer but President Bo Inge Andersson said negotiations were in progress.

"We are talking to different partners interested in producing in Russia," he said, adding that there was more than one firm involved in the process.

He declined to comment on GAZ's profitability in the wake of last year's dramatic slump in Russian car sales, but said his target was to boost sales by 25 percent this year to 84 billion roubles ($2.85 billion).

The former SAAB executive added that the group's work-force was cut by 36 percent during the crisis -- although he would not give an exact headcount.

"We took out 56 percent of management -- we had too much bureaucracy," he said at the annual Russian Automotive Forum in Moscow, where he also delivered a short presentation.

GAZ was the industrial partner of lender Sberbank (SBER03.MM) in its failed attempt to buy General Motors unit Opel last year.

Russia's government believes partnerships with Western rivals is the key to reviving its battered car industry -- which saw sales halve in 2009.

Lada-maker AvtoVAZ (AVAZ.MM) is 25 percent owned by Renault (RENA.PA), truck-maker Daimler (DAIGn.DE) is a shareholder in Russia's KAMAZ (KMAZ.MM) while Fiat (FIA.MI) recently agreed a tie-up with Sollers.

Debt-laden GAZ restructured its borrowings earlier this month, which Andersson said gave the company "two more years". [nLDE620238]

But he added that while passenger cars remained an issue for the group, its larger vehicles and buses remained in good shape.

"You have to look at the segments we are in -- you know we have not had success in passenger cars, but we remain extremely successful in LCVs (Light Commerical Vehicles) -- we have a 51 percent market share."

(Reporting by John Bowker and Gleb Stolyarov, editing by Dmitry Sergeyev and David Cowell)

((john.bowker@reuters.com;+7 495 775 1242 Reuters Messaging: john.bowker.reuters.com@reuters.net))

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