The German carmaker has agreed a voluntary redundancy programme targeting administrative and development roles, while ruling out compulsory redundancies and cuts to production jobs, according to media reports.
BMW will cut several thousand jobs in Germany, becoming the latest major German carmaker to launch a substantial cost-saving programme.
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The plans were presented to employees in Munich on Wednesday by chief executive Milan Nedeljković and works council chairman Martin Kimmich, according to German media reports.
BMW and its works council have agreed a voluntary redundancy programme targeting administrative and development roles, while production will be excluded, a company spokesperson told Reuters.
A person familiar with the plans told the news agency that BMW’s global workforce was expected to shrink by around 8,000 employees. The group employed 154,540 people worldwide at the end of 2025, according to BMW.
Handelsblatt, citing company sources, reported that the programme would begin in October 2026 and continue until the end of 2027. The newspaper said BMW expected 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 were 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 turns to voluntary redundancy programme
BMW does not plan to make compulsory redundancies. Instead, the company is launching what the 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 accepted 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.
BMW follows other German carmakers in cutting jobs
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.
Volkswagen chief executive Oliver Blume is pushing to double planned workforce reductions across the group to 100,000 positions, although the additional cuts have not been agreed.
