France's top auto maker PSA Peugeot Citroen on Wednesday announced that its loss in 2012 reached a record high of five billion euros (about 6.75 billion U.S. dollars) compared with a 588-million-euro net profit a year earlier.

Driven by "deterioration of the automative industry environment in Europe", the group's revenue stood at 55.4 billion euros in 2012, down by 5.2 percent year on year.

The loss was driven by "lower volumes" of sales and "pricing pressure," according to the company.

Last year's receipts of the automotive division declined by 10.3 percent to 38.3 billion euros as the car maker's pillar activity was heavily impacted by limp performance of neighboring markets, the group said.

Although sales in Europe were down 14.8 percent year on year, sales growth in China of 9.2 percent and Russia of 4.9 percent contributed to boost PSA's position outside Europe, its annual financial report said.

"The Group's 2012 results reflect the deteriorated environment in the automotive sector in Europe. In this context we have taken the difficult but necessary measures to reorganise our manufacturing base in France." said Philippe Varin, the PSA Peugeot Citroen's Chairman.

"We are going to build on the strong identity of our brands and differentiate their customer territories. We are going to focus our investments, actively restore our profitability in Europe and reap the benefits from our investments in growing markets," he said.

Looking to 2013, the French leading auto manufacturer expected China and Russia to grow by 8 percent and 2 percent respectively. Hard hit by economic troubles, European markets were set to fall by up to 5 percent.

Paralyzed by poor competitiveness and sluggish sales, PSA said it would cut 8,000 jobs and close one factory in France as part of a restructuring plan. (1 euro = 1.35 U.S. dollars)