Germany’s industrial powerhouse Bosch has announced one of the largest job cuts in its history, with 13,000 positions to be eliminated nationwide by 2030.
Bavaria is among the hardest hit regions, especially in Immenstadt and Holzkirchen, where hundreds of employees face uncertain futures.
The powerful metalworkers’ union IG Metall has pledged fierce resistance, calling the plans a “social bloodletting” that threatens local communities as well as Germany’s industrial strength.
Billions in losses force Bosch into drastic cuts
Bosch, the world’s largest automotive supplier, is grappling with a massive €2.5 billion annual cost gap in its Mobility division. The company says the shortfall leaves it no choice but to slash jobs and restructure.
According to board member and labor director Stefan Grosch, Bosch must “urgently improve competitiveness in the mobility sector and permanently cut costs.”
The problems are multifaceted:
- Weak demand in the German car market,
- Sluggish progress in electric and hydrogen mobility,
- Fierce competition from China,
- And additional strain from U.S. tariff policies.
These challenges have put Europe’s automotive giant under unprecedented pressure.
Bavaria bleeds: Job cuts in Immenstadt and Holzkirchen
While Bosch sites in Franconia remain untouched for now, other Bavarian locations face severe losses:
Immenstadt (Allgäu): About 650 of the site’s 4,200 jobs are set to disappear. The plant produces brake boosters and camera systems.
Holzkirchen near Munich: The Bosch Campus of subsidiary ITK Engineering employs about 200 staff in software and systems development.
Nationally, ITK plans to cut 274 out of 1,000 jobs. The exact figure for Holzkirchen is still unclear.
The news comes as a heavy blow to Bavaria’s high-tech and automotive regions, which rely on Bosch as a major employer and innovation hub.
Union anger: “Social devastation” ahead
IG Metall has reacted furiously to the announcement. Works council chair Frank Sell declared that the union “categorically rejects such a historic downsizing without binding assurances for German sites.”
Union leaders accuse Bosch management of betraying the company’s founding values of reliability, responsibility and fairness. IG Metall chair Christiane Benner warned of a looming “social devastation in many regions.”
While Bavaria faces significant cuts, other states are hit even harder:
- Stuttgart-Feuerbach (Baden-Württemberg): 3,500 jobs will go.
- Schwieberdingen: 1,750 positions eliminated.
- Waiblingen: the entire plant for connection technology with 560 employees will be closed by 2028.
Bosch’s survival strategy: AI and efficiency
The layoffs form part of Bosch’s broader strategy to lift its automotive division’s slim profit margin of 3.8% to a target of 7%.
The plan rests on:
- Productivity gains through artificial intelligence,
- Reduced material and overhead costs,
- Streamlined logistics.
Despite the scale of the cuts, Bosch insists Germany will remain central to its operations. Grosch emphasized that the restructuring will be carried out “as socially responsibly as possible” by 2030.
The crisis is not new: Bosch has been battling headwinds since late 2023. By the end of 2024, its global workforce had already shrunk by 11,600 to 418,000 employees, including 4,500 fewer jobs in Germany alone.
A watershed moment for Germany’s automotive industry
Bosch’s planned 13,000 job cuts mark a watershed moment for Germany’s automotive industry. Bavaria faces particularly painful losses in Immenstadt and Holzkirchen, while unions vow to fight the “Bosch hammer” with all means at their disposal.
The company is betting its future on artificial intelligence, efficiency and restructuring to overcome mounting global competition and market pressures. For thousands of workers in Bavaria and beyond, however, the coming years promise uncertainty and struggle.
