VW is cutting 35,000 jobs and now BMW is chopping off 8,000 jobs

[Emil]

VW is cutting 35,000 jobs and now BMW is chopping off 8000 jobs and on that news BMW shares rose 1.9%



"For two years, BMW was the German automaker that seemed to have figured it out.

While Volkswagen was announcing 35,000 job cuts and Mercedes-Benz was launching its own redundancy program, BMW kept its head down and its numbers relatively clean.

It held onto combustion engine options when rivals were abandoning them. It avoided the kind of expensive strategy reversals that cost peers billions. Its electric sales were growing without the margin collapse that hit everyone else.

On July 29, CEO Milan Nedeljkovic and works council chairman Martin Kimmich stood in front of employees at a company-wide assembly and delivered news that ended that narrative.

"The rules dictating the industry have substantially changed, and with it the foundation of BMW's business model," Nedeljkovic told staff.

BMW is cutting around 8,000 jobs. It's the largest voluntary redundancy program in the company's history, and it makes BMW the last of Germany's three major carmakers to announce a significant workforce reduction.

BMW shares rose as much as 1.9% in Frankfurt on the news."


https://www.yahoo.com/finance/economy/p ... 00809.html

[ezdoesitz]

Cost of energy, labor and regulations are all playing their part in this

[trafficseller]

Automation and AI is another factor, the days of no humans in factories is coming.

[tacnet]

I think a lot of this is down to Chinese manufacturer BYD. Even with the import tariffs, their cars are significantly cheaper and offer much more in terms of luxury and on-board tech. Every model comes with zero gravity massage seats, big screen front and back and a refrigerator LOL

They recently announced they had sold 100,000 cars just in the UK since they launched in March 2023

[tacnet]

Be interesting to see how this affects me locally because BMW make all their Minis here in Oxford

[TheButcher]

Hard to believe how fast Chinese car brands are winning market share around the world. Especially where there are not huge sanctions and tariffs.




"The Jaecoo 7 was the UK’s best-selling new car in March, beating regular chart-toppers the Ford Puma, Nissan Qashqai and Kia Sportage.

A total of 10,064 examples of the Chinese crossover were registered last month, compared with 9193 Pumas, 8718 Qashqais and 7310 Sportages."

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new- ... -car-march

[Wm2man]

Cutting costs is the only way to stay competitive.

[tacnet]

Range Rover and BMW are going to have to up their game to compete with these new BYDs we are now seeing in the UK

Check out these top BYD SUV's

[Emil]

More news on Voklswagen from caranddriver.com



"Volkswagen’s board unanimously approved its Future Plan 2030, which calls for cutting its model portfolio by about 50 percent and reducing offering complexity by 75 percent.
The automaker plans to eliminate 50,000 jobs by 2030, including management positions, while targeting annual sales of nine million vehicles and a 9 percent operating margin.
Facing intense Chinese competition and excess European production capacity, VW will focus on profitable, technologically competitive models and reconsider operations at several German plants."

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a7361 ... p-by-half/

[TheButcher]

Let's build bombs not cars seems a sad state of affairs.

" London — A Volkswagen car plant in northwestern Germany is to be converted to defense production, the company said Monday, as Europe’s biggest economy ramps up military spending amid a continent-wide push to rearm.

Volkswagen said in a statement that it had agreed to sell its Osnabrück car plant to the State of Lower Saxony and Aurelius Capital, an investment firm headquartered in Tel Aviv. The local government and Aurelius, which would be the majority owner, plan to work with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, one of the companies behind Israel’s Iron Dome. "

https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/07/business ... ction-intl