Bosch Group Plans to Cut 13,000 Jobs, Mainly Affecting Business in Germany

The automotive parts giant Bosch is looking to cut costs through layoffs, a process that has been ongoing for two years. Now, an additional 13,000 positions are set to be eliminated, primarily at Bosch's automotive parts plants in Germany. Bosch stated on Thursday that by 2030, its automotive parts division's German plants are expected to cut approximately 13,000 jobs. By then, the core department's costs are expected to be reduced by 2.5 billion euros annually to enhance competitiveness. Bosch's HR director Stefan Grosch said, "Regrettably, we cannot avoid further layoffs beyond the scale already announced."

Bosch has cited weak market demand (mainly in Europe) and the slowed growth in the electric vehicle and autonomous driving markets as reasons for its layoff action. Over the past few years, Bosch has invested billions of euros in these areas, but these businesses are currently barely profitable. Bosch has set a profit margin target of 7% for its automotive division, whereas last year's figure was 3.8%. The global automotive market continues to experience a downturn, and the lack of regulatory frameworks makes it difficult to establish new technologies, such as in the field of hydrogen energy. The market penetration of future technologies like electric vehicles or autonomous driving is also significantly delayed, and the demand in Bosch's sales market is shifting entirely to regions outside of Europe. Additionally, the ongoing structural changes in the automotive industry, along with immense global price and competition pressures, present challenges for Bosch. At the same time, Bosch's mobility division must make significant investments to ensure future development in this harsh market environment, relying primarily on its own resources for financing, leading to an annual cost gap of approximately 2.5 billion euros for Bosch's global mobility division.

Unlike in the past, Bosch has announced the scale of layoffs in advance, rather than negotiating socially acceptable solutions with the employee committees of the affected factories first. The layoffs will have the greatest impact on the factories in Feuerbach, Schwieberdingen, and Waiblingen around Stuttgart, as well as the factories in Bühl, Baden, and Homburg, Saarland. The specific details are as follows:

• At the Feuerbach plant, research and development, sales and management, as well as the power solutions drive component plant are all affected. In addition to the stagnating automotive market and the decline in global share, which most of the plant's products depend on, there has been a significant impact. Furthermore, due to the severe lag in the development of the hydrogen energy market in Europe, there has been very little demand for industrialized hydrogen products in recent years. This has led to underproduction at the plant and overall overstaffing. By the end of 2030, approximately 3,500 jobs will be cut at this location, including about 1,500 positions at the plant.

• At the Schwieberdingen plant, approximately 1,750 jobs will be cut in areas such as sales, procurement, management, and research and development within business units like power solutions, electric drives, and automotive electronics. The negative development of order situations and the slow progress of future technologies have particularly increased the pressure for adjustments to align the costs and structures of these areas with the changing framework conditions.

• At the Waiblingen plant, the company plans to gradually discontinue the production of connection technology, currently employing about 560 people, by the end of 2028. The plant primarily produces connection technology (plug connectors) based on thermoplastics and silicone rubber for the global automotive industry. Production volumes and employment levels have been declining for years, making the plant no longer competitive. Bosch Medical Solutions and Bosch Industrial Additive located at the plant are not affected by these planned measures.

• At the Bühl/Bühlertal plant, Bosch develops and produces small electric drive systems for European automotive manufacturers. The company expects to adjust around 1,550 jobs by the end of 2030. Functions in sales, purchasing, and management, as well as research and development and production areas, are affected.

• At the Homburg plant, Bosch plans to cut approximately 1,250 jobs by the end of 2030 and significantly consolidate the operational activities of the Power Solutions business unit in the eastern part of the plant. This move aims to enhance synergies and reduce structure.

Nevertheless, Bosch remains committed to Germany as its base, as Grosch emphasized: "Germany is still the center for Bosch, including in terms of employee numbers. However, we must organize ourselves more efficiently in order to remain competitive in the fiercely competitive global market. Improving competitiveness is a prerequisite for securing orders in Germany and therefore creating jobs in Germany."

Bosch has been laying off employees for many years.

In the past two years, Bosch Group has cut over 13,000 jobs across more than a dozen factories in Germany. Last year, the workforce decreased by 11,500, bringing the total number of employees down to 418,000. The automotive components division, which is Bosch's largest sector, accounts for 55% of its sales and had approximately 230,000 employees in 2024, with most layoffs concentrated in this division. Last year, the employee count in this division saw a slight decline of 2.5%. However, in 2023, the number of employees in this division had increased to 237,000.

Markus Heyn, head of Bosch Mobility Solutions, stated: "Geopolitical developments and trade barriers such as tariffs have led to significant uncertainty, and we must respond like all businesses. We anticipate that the level of competition will further intensify significantly. Therefore, our goal is to seize every possible growth opportunity and ensure the future sustainability of our global mobility base. I believe that Bosch Mobility Solutions can secure a position in the highly competitive global market. However, we must create the conditions now and rely on our own strength to ensure our competitiveness; time waits for no one."

Bosch aims to reduce its costs at all levels and in all areas as quickly as possible to bridge the cost gap. The company believes that there is significant potential for cost reduction through possible productivity gains achieved by using artificial intelligence in production, reducing physical and material costs, decreasing investments in plants and buildings, and making logistics and the global supply chain more efficient.

Bosch has already introduced the necessary measures and personnel adjustments to employee representatives and has also informed its employees. Grosch stated, "Although we urgently need to take action, we still adhere to the agreements made with employee representatives. We will quickly discuss the necessary measures with them at each location and strive to reach socially acceptable solutions as much as possible. Time is pressing. Delaying will only exacerbate the situation." The company plans to engage in dialogue with employee representatives at various locations immediately.

The employee committee and the union criticized the plan, calling it the largest layoff in the company's history. Frank Sell, chairman of the employee committee, stated that although the industry situation is indeed very tense, "we firmly oppose such a historically large-scale layoff, especially as no commitments have been made to ensure the survival of our German factories!" The German union IG Metall has called for a continued suspension of layoffs for operational reasons. The current layoff ban in Bosch's mobility division will remain in effect until the end of 2027. Adrian Hermes, Bosch's corporate representative and supervisory board member from IG Metall, expressed that employees felt very disappointed upon hearing this news, as they had previously made concessions to keep their jobs. IG Metall president Christiane Benner was even more severe in her wording: "You are trampling on the values that have made Bosch successful: reliability, responsibility, and fair cooperation." She directly criticized the management and announced a resolute resistance, demanding immediate negotiations. She stated that this is not only about jobs but about the entire industrial base.

According to data from the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), the German automotive industry has cut approximately 55,000 jobs over the past two years, resulting in a 7% decrease in employment, bringing the total number of employees down to 718,200. The number of employees in auto parts suppliers saw the largest decline, decreasing by 11.5% to 236,700. Automobile manufacturers reduced their workforce by nearly 5%, bringing the number down to 442,600. A year ago, the VDA warned in a forecast study that by 2035, the industry might lose 140,000 jobs due to the transition to electric vehicles. Since then, U.S. import tariffs and increased contraction in the Chinese market have introduced new risk factors. Furthermore, all German car manufacturers have already started large-scale layoffs by 2030. Major auto parts suppliers like ZF are also closing factories and planning to reduce their workforce in the coming years.