In summary: The automotive industry's austerity drive is now also affecting BMW: the company plans to cut around 8,000 jobs worldwide. In Germany, the cuts are intended to proceed without compulsory redundancies – instead, the focus in administrative and development departments will be on voluntary severance packages and early retirement.
Key facts on job cuts at BMW:
- Extent: Around 8,000 jobs will be cut worldwide.
- Focus Germany: A large proportion is likely to be cut in this country (out of a good 154,000 employees, over 84,000 work at the German site).
- Procedure & Timeframe: Severance programme for office and development (Oct 2026 to end of 2027) as well as normal attrition and retirement.
- Costs: A one-off charge of around €1 billion is planned for the redevelopment.
- Reasons: Falling sales in China, strong price pressure, US tariffs and the weakening global economy.
The austerity measures are now also reaching Munich.
The crisis in the German automotive industry is now pulling BMW in too. According to information from the news agencies dpa and AFP from industry circles, the Munich-based manufacturer intends to cut around 8,000 jobs worldwide. While competitors such as VW, Mercedes, Audi and Porsche had already announced staff reductions last year, BMW had so far managed to avoid a major austerity programme in Germany. According to media reports, however, the new CEO Milan Nedeljković had announced after a profit warning in June that the pace of cost reductions would be significantly increased.
Voluntary redundancy instead of compulsory redundancies
As the reports indicate, BMW is relying on normal fluctuation – for example, when employees retire or contracts expire – as well as a voluntary severance programme. According to the reports, this offer is aimed at employees in Germany outside the production lines and is set to run from October 2026 to the end of 2027. Because a good half of the nearly 154,000 employees work in Germany, the majority of job cuts will also occur here. There has been no direct confirmation from BMW on this yet.
Rapid agreement against the backdrop of global problems
According to the press release, the corporate management and works council leadership surprisingly quickly reached an agreement within six weeks. As heard from financial circles, CFO Walter Mertl expects special costs of around one billion euros for the corporate restructuring. However, it remains unclear how much money exactly will go towards severance payments. The move shows how severely the industry is suffering from the decline in demand in China, US tariffs, and the global economic downturn.