AUTOMOBILES : Chevy to Cut 17% of Salaried Work Force : Cars: GM’s mainstay division has seen its market share slip steadily. The firm’s latest action will eliminate 350 jobs.

Chevrolet, once the stalwart among General Motors Corp.’s car divisions, announced a restructuring Friday that will cut about 350 white-collar jobs in the next year.

The announcement was the latest in a succession of steps GM is taking to cut its bloated work force and reverse staggering losses in profits and market share.

The 17% cut in personnel at GM’s largest division will come through early retirements and attrition, spokesman Dave Hudgens said. The division has about 2,000 employees, most at its central office in Warren, Mich.

The cuts are among the 20,000 salaried jobs GM has said it will eliminate by the end of 1993 as part of a massive downsizing that also will pare 74,000 hourly jobs.

Chevrolet accounts for one of every two GM vehicles sold. It is GM’s principal seller of entry-level vehicles, but has been battered in market share this year largely because it has cut less-profitable sales to rental companies.

But its aging product lineup also has hurt sales. Only the redesigned Geo Prizm is new this year.

A redesign of the mainstay Lumina and the reintroduction of the Monte Carlo are due in 1994 as 1995 models. Chevy has 12.6% of the U.S. car market, down 1.6 percentage points from last year.

Much of that share has gone to Saturn, GM’s fledgling but popular small car designed to attract those considering Japanese cars.

Overall industry growth in light truck sales has helped Chevy hold most of its truck market share, but it has lost 0.7 percentage point, to 24% this year. Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Corp., which have new trucks this year, have benefited from Chevy’s paucity of new products.

Chevrolet General Manager Jim Perkins said the goal of the restructuring, in the works since 1989, is to get more Chevy factory representatives in direct contact with dealers.

“What we’re doing here is redeploying our troops to bring more firepower at the point of attack--to the point of sale and the point of customer satisfaction,” Perkins said in a statement.

Later, in a telephone interview, he said the restructuring was not an acknowledgment of weakness in the division.

“This has nothing to do with the fact we’ve seen our market share slide,” he said.

GM Chief Executive John F. (Jack) Smith Jr. said in New York on Thursday that full-size trucks, large luxury cars, mid-size cars and compact trucks would get the bulk of new product resources as GM strives to return its North American operations to profitability.

“You’ll need entry-level vehicles, but that isn’t where we’re going to focus,” Smith said.