Workers at Holden’s Elizabeth plant in South Australia will be looking at their options, including voluntary redundancy, their union says.

The car manufacturer announced on Monday it would be reducing production from 290 to 240 cars per day as of May 25, with up to 270 jobs lost as a result.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) says it will be speaking to workers on Tuesday to discuss their options.

“We’re hopeful that the jobs that will be cut will be handled in a voluntary redundancy fashion,” AMWU national vehicles secretary Dave Smith said on Tuesday in a statement.

Smith said some workers may choose to leave earlier and have the opportunity to look for new jobs.

“The one positive for the announcement is the commitment from Holden that they intend to stay until the end of 2017,” he said.

Holden director of communications Sean Poppitt said the job losses were due to a reduction in demand for locally made cars.

“This move better aligns production with demand and supports our plan of continuing to build world-class cars in Adelaide until the end of 2017,” Poppitt said in a statement on Monday.

“As previously announced, Holden’s manufacturing operations will wind down on a sliding scale to ensure an orderly transition.”

Wakefield MP Nick Champion described the redundancies as a terrible blow for Holden workers and component makers across the automotive industry.

“The proposed reduction in manufacturing from 290 to 240 cars per day is likely to have flow on impacts for the component industry,” the Labor MP said in a statement on Monday.

General Motors Holden announced last year that they will stop making vehicles by the end of 2017 – ending 65 years of building cars in Australia.