{"id":64310,"date":"2026-07-30T15:13:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T15:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/64310\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T15:13:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T15:13:12","slug":"bmw-to-volkswagen-how-deep-is-germanys-auto-industry-cull","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/64310\/","title":{"rendered":"BMW to Volkswagen: How deep is Germany’s auto industry cull?"},"content":{"rendered":"

BMW makes five<\/p>\n

BMW on Wednesday became the fifth German carmaker to announce major job cuts, as the country’s auto sector seeks to tackle rising competition from China.<\/p>\n

The Munich-based firm said it would cut up to 8,000 jobs globally<\/a>, representing about 5% of its 154,000-strong workforce.<\/p>\n

BMW, which also owns the Mini and Rolls-Royce brands, said the job losses would primarily affect operations in Germany and be achieved through natural staff turnover and a voluntary redundancy program.<\/p>\n

Although BMW was seen as more resilient to Chinese competition, the company warned last month that its sales in China were falling sharply.<\/p>\n

Chinese rivals have intensified competition for electric vehicles (EV), which has crushed BMW’s sales volumes and pricing power.<\/p>\n

Last year, BMW’s vehicle deliveries in China dropped to their lowest level since 2017 and in the three months to June, they fell 30% year-on-year.<\/p>\n

US PresidentDonald Trump’s tariffs have also contributed to BMW’s woes, along with higher energy prices from the Iran war and the growth of Chinese EV-makers in other major markets, including Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"BMW<\/p>\n

BMW joins other German automakers in announcing large job cutsJade Gao\/AFP<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the company disclosed that second-quarter net profit dropped 35% to \u20ac1.2 billion ($1.4 billion), while revenue fell to \u20ac31 billion from \u20ac34 billion.<\/p>\n

BMW has adjusted its guidance for the rest of the year, warning of a “significant decline” in profit.<\/p>\n

Even Porsche isn’t immune<\/p>\n

Two days earlier, Porsche announced plans to cut an additional 5,000 jobs in Germany by the end of 2035. The figure represents about 1 in 5 workers<\/p>\n

The sports performance brand said the new measures would hit Porsche’s main production plant in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen and its research and development (R&D) center in nearby Weissach.<\/p>\n

Last year, Porsche announced a restructuring program to cut 1,900 jobs in the Stuttgart region by 2029 and allow 2,000 fixed-term contracts to expire.<\/p>\n

The company will also defer wage increases, while performance bonuses will be more closely linked to profits.<\/p>\n

Porsche, which is owned by Volkswagen Group but run with a high degree of independence, has also reduced jobs at its Leipzig plant and is closing three subsidiaries that employ about 500 people.<\/p>\n

At the end of last year, Porsche employed nearly 41,800 people, with about 85% of them in Germany.<\/p>\n

Volkswagen plans the deepest cuts<\/p>\n

Volkswagen, Europe’s largest carmaker, last month doubled its job-cull program, announcing plans to slash up to 100,000 jobs.<\/p>\n

The company also wants to close four German factories.<\/p>\n

Unions and the German state of Lower Saxony, which holds a 20% voting stake and can veto major decisions, have rejected the latest plans. VW had originally stated it would cut 50,000 positions.<\/p>\n

VW is well-known for its oversized headcount of 630,000 globally \u2014 680,000 including Chinese joint ventures.<\/p>\n

The Wolfsburg-based giant employs around 60% more workers than Toyota, despite producing a similar number of vehicles.<\/p>\n

Once a sign of German industrial strength, the huge workforce<\/a> has become a costly burden amid intensifying competition from Chinese EV-makers.<\/p>\n

VW controls more stages of production in-house than rivals, driving up labor demand, while German factory costs are often twice those of rivals.<\/p>\n

Slow progress on electric vehicles further eroded sales in China, which once accounted for a third of VW’s total, as well as Europe.<\/p>\n

Mercedes trims without mass firings<\/p>\n

In March last year, Mercedes-Benz agreed with its works council plans to deliver \u20ac5 billion in savings by 2027.<\/p>\n

However, the company ruled out compulsory redundancies at German plants, insisting that voluntary departures could achieve the reforms.<\/p>\n

Until March this year, around 5,500 administration, R&D and IT workers accepted severance packages and left. Production workers remained protected.<\/p>\n

Additional headcount reductions have been reported in the firm’s China operations.<\/p>\n

Last month, Mercedes postponed a bonus payment for nearly three-quarters of its German workforce until 2027 and proposed extending the work week from 35 to 40 hours without extra pay.<\/p>\n

Mercedes bosses also indicated that some jobs could be moved abroad.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday (July 28), Mercedes said it had written off more than \u20ac700 million due to fierce competition in China.<\/p>\n

Although second-quarter net profit grew 13.5% to \u20ac1.09 billion, core earnings at its key cars division fell by a quarter to \u20ac909 million.<\/p>\n

Audi’s premium brand under pressure<\/p>\n

VW-owned Audi last year announced plans to cut up to 7,500 jobs in Germany by the end of 2029.<\/p>\n

The company has ruled out compulsory redundancies and said the job losses in administration and R&D would be achieved through voluntary schemes and early retirement.<\/p>\n

Last month, however, Audi’s Neckarsulm plant was listed for possible closure in 2030 by parent company VW. This could impact about 15,000 workers.<\/p>\n

The site, which makes the A5, A6 and A8, has already cut production from 300,000 to 225,000 vehicles a year.<\/p>\n

Edited by: Rob Mudge<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BMW makes five BMW on Wednesday became the fifth German carmaker to announce major job cuts, as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20947],"tags":[6213,89,6563,48884,25388,5,8406,5356,5523],"class_list":["post-64310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-volkswagen","tag-bmw","tag-china","tag-competition","tag-german-auto-workers","tag-german-carmaker","tag-germany","tag-porsche","tag-volkswagen","tag-volkswagen-group"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}