BMW announces worldwide cut of around 8,000 jobs by end of 2027
Munich, July 29, 2026
M(e)ister Eiskalt / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
Summary
The Munich carmaker BMW plans to cut around 8,000 jobs worldwide by the end of 2027, the majority of them in Germany. The program is based on a severance offer for around 40,000 employees and natural attrition abroad.
Munich, July 29, 2026
The Munich carmaker BMW plans to cut around 8,000 jobs worldwide by the end of 2027, with more than half of those expected to fall in Germany.
Background: Six weeks of negotiations with the works council
As the Deutsche Presse-Agentur learned on Wednesday from company circles, the group's workforce is to shrink by around 8,000 employees by the end of 2027. In doing so, the last German car group that had not previously announced a major job-cut program is responding to the ongoing crisis in the industry. BMW employs around 154,000 people worldwide, more than half of them in Germany – as of mid-2026, the figure was just over 84,000.
Back in mid-June 2026, it had already become apparent that a savings program could also be on the way for the Munich-based company. At the time, it was also said that the group would "intensify and accelerate the ongoing cost reductions through further structural and efficiency measures." According to reports, the talks with employee representatives ran largely without friction for six weeks; the central works council had at the time demanded "immediate and binding" negotiations.
How the severance program will proceed from October 2026
The program, which according to information from company circles has largely been negotiated with the employee representatives, is expected to cost the group a sum in the high triple-digit millions, even though this is currently still "difficult to estimate." At its core, it provides that from October 2026, around 40,000 of the roughly 85,000 employees in Germany will receive individual severance offers. How many employees will actually accept the offer is uncertain – from the negotiations it was said: "Es kommt darauf an, wie viele die Abfindung nehmen."
First departures are expected as early as the current year. The severance program is to run from October 2026 to the end of 2027, and the overall savings target is also to be achieved by the end of 2027. Abroad, BMW wants to implement the cuts primarily through partial early retirement and natural attrition, without launching a comparable severance offer. From 2028, the program is then expected to have a positive impact on key figures – the group is targeting annual savings of around one billion euros.
Workforce has been shrinking since mid-2025
A decline in the workforce had already set in before the cuts now announced: from mid-2025 to mid-2026, the number of employees had already fallen by around 2,000. In its annual report for 2026, BMW had forecast a slight decline in employment, and the 2026 annual outlook also anticipated a slight decline. "Slight" at BMW, however, means up to five percent.
With this program, BMW joins a wave of job cuts in the German automotive industry. Just this week, its subsidiary Porsche announced the elimination of a further 5,000 jobs. At the largest German and European car group, Volkswagen, up to 100,000 job cuts and several plant closures are on the table. The entire German auto industry is currently suffering from the slump in the Chinese market and the sharply rising competitive and pricing pressure there.
Reaction from IG Metall
The IG Metall union reacted cautiously to the announcement. Horst Ott, the Bavarian district chief, stated: "BMW reagiert jetzt auf den wegbrechenden Markt in China und arbeitet parallel daran, die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der deutschen Standorte zu stärken." He also emphasized that the cuts would take place "mit den Instrumenten der Betriebsparteien" and that collectively bargained regulations were not up for discussion.
Historical parallel: The cuts under Reithofer in 2008
Back in early 2008, then-group CEO Norbert Reithofer had announced cuts of a similar magnitude. By the end of 2010, the workforce had then shrunk by more than 10,000 – to 95,000 employees. Most recently, shortly after the onset of the coronavirus crisis in 2020, BMW had reached an agreement with the works council on cutting around 6,000 jobs, to be carried out through attrition and voluntary arrangements.
How many jobs in Austria and at other locations abroad will be precisely affected remains unclear. If one takes the roughly five percent to be cut overall as a yardstick, with a headcount of more than 5,500 employees in Austria in 2023, around 300 jobs could be lost there. Overall, the group expects the workforce to fall by 8,000 by the end of 2027.
From company circles, the following was said about the target: "Das wäre so das Ziel, die Zielgröße." The exact share of Germany in the worldwide cuts depends significantly on how many employees accept the severance offer. Industry observers view the move as the provisional culmination of a phase in which the traditional premium manufacturers have to cope simultaneously with shrinking margins, high investments in electromobility, and the loss of market share in China.
Impact on locations and suppliers
The program is likely to have immediate effects for suppliers and locations in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. The sites in Munich, Regensburg, Leipzig and Dingolfing are the largest in Germany. Indirectly, observers also expect a reduction in temporary work arrangements and fixed-term contracts, which are counted as natural attrition in the statistics.
Overall, BMW wants to shape the workforce reduction in such a way that redundancies for operational reasons are avoided. This corresponds to the model from 2020, when voluntariness was likewise relied upon. At that time, however, the economic situation was temporarily shaped by the pandemic – the current crisis is considered structural and therefore more protracted.
Analysts have so far reacted largely cautiously. Deutsche Bank rated BMW as "Buy" on July 14, 2026, RBC Capital Markets rated the stock as "Sector Perform" on July 10, 2026, and JP Morgan Chase & Co. as "Overweight" on the same day. Industry insiders see the announced cuts as a necessary but not sufficient step to sustainably stabilize the earnings situation.
Industry context: Porsche, Audi and Volkswagen are also cutting jobs
With this decision, BMW is following what Volkswagen, Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche have already initiated. Porsche announced further cuts of 5,000 jobs this week. Volkswagen is reviewing plant closures and the elimination of up to 100,000 jobs. As a result, the German model of the auto industry – characterized by high domestic value creation and a strong workforce – is coming under further pressure.
According to reports, the program is to be completed by the end of 2027. By then, according to estimates from group circles, several thousand employees will have left the company – either through accepting severance, through early retirement arrangements, or through the expiration of fixed-term contracts. Redundancies for operational reasons are to be avoided where possible.
Questions & Answers
How many jobs does BMW want to cut in Germany?
Around 8,000 jobs are to be cut worldwide; since more than half of BMW's nearly 154,000 employees work in Germany and the severance program is running there, more than half of the cuts are expected to fall in Germany.
What does the severance program at BMW have to do with the works council?
According to information from company circles, the program was largely negotiated with the employee representatives; from October 2026, around 40,000 employees in Germany are to receive individual severance offers.
By when is the job-cutting program at BMW to be completed?
According to information from company circles, the program will run from October 2026 to the end of 2027, first departures are expected as early as the current year, and from 2028 the cuts are expected to have a positive impact on key figures.
BMW job cuts: 8,000 jobs by 2027 – what is known | allfacts360
