BMW has announced plans to reduce its global workforce by around 8,000 employees, becoming the latest major German carmaker to launch a substantial cost-saving programme. The plans were presented to staff in Munich on Wednesday by chief executive Milan Nedeljković and works council chairman Martin Kimmich, according to German media reports.
The company and its works council have agreed on a voluntary redundancy programme targeting administrative and development roles, while production jobs will be excluded, a BMW spokesperson confirmed to Reuters. A person familiar with the plans told the news agency that BMW’s global workforce is expected to shrink by around 8,000 employees. The group employed 154,540 people worldwide at the end of 2025, according to BMW.
Voluntary redundancy programme details
Handelsblatt, citing company sources, reported that the programme will begin in October 2026 and continue until the end of 2027. The newspaper said BMW expects the measures to generate annual savings of around €1 billion from 2028. More than half of BMW’s workforce is based in Germany, where the voluntary redundancy programme will operate. A substantial proportion of the reductions is therefore expected to occur in the country, according to German media reports.
Münchner Merkur reported that administrative and development roles in Munich, Regensburg, Dingolfing and Leipzig are expected to be particularly affected. BMW’s Research and Innovation Centre, known as the FIZ, employs around 25,000 engineers, developers, designers and business specialists in Munich, according to the newspaper. Administrative and development roles are expected to account for most of the reductions.
BMW does not plan to make compulsory redundancies. Instead, the company is launching what German media described, citing company sources, as the largest voluntary redundancy programme in its history. The offers will be aimed primarily at employees in administration and development rather than production workers. The programme is expected to cost BMW hundreds of millions of euros, although the company said the final amount was difficult to estimate because it would depend on how many employees accept an offer. Individual severance payments will be determined by employees’ salaries and length of service.
BMW management and employee representatives had held intensive negotiations over the programme during the previous six weeks, with Wednesday’s staff meeting serving as a deadline for reaching an agreement.
Broader industry pressures
BMW has come under pressure from weaker business in China and the structural transformation of the automotive industry, including intensifying competition from Chinese carmakers. In June, BMW lowered its 2026 profit forecast, citing worsening conditions in China and the effects of the conflict in the Middle East. The company said it would intensify and accelerate structural and efficiency measures.
Mercedes-Benz has also implemented a voluntary redundancy programme. Porsche, part of the Volkswagen Group, announced this week that it would cut a further 5,000 jobs by 2035. These come on top of 3,900 reductions agreed in February 2025 and another 500 positions linked to subsidiary closures, taking the total announced reduction to approximately 9,400 jobs.
The cuts at BMW reflect a broader trend among European carmakers grappling with the shift to electric vehicles, rising competition from Chinese manufacturers, and geopolitical uncertainties. For more on the challenges facing the sector, see our analysis on why European carmakers struggle to launch robotaxis amid Chinese advances. Meanwhile, the German battery sector is also under strain, as illustrated by Varta's insolvency filing.
