German auto supplier Bosch has announced a new wave of downsizing that will see around 13,000 positions eliminated in Germany by the end of the decade.
The reductions are part of a broader cost-cutting drive aimed at closing a €2.5 billion gap in the company’s Mobility division.
According to the company’s statement from its headquarters in Gerlingen near Stuttgart, the measures will be completed by 2030.
The decision follows reports earlier this week in the Handelsblatt. Bosch’s management stressed that the cuts were unavoidable given the challenging environment in the automotive sector.
Automotive crisis hitting suppliers hard
German carmakers are currently facing shrinking sales and sharp declines in profits. This downturn is spilling over to their suppliers. Bosch’s net profit dropped by half last year, reflecting the mounting pressure on the entire industry.
At the end of 2024, Bosch employed nearly 417,900 people worldwide – around 11,600 fewer than the year before. In Germany alone, staff numbers declined by 4,500 to just under 130,000.
The Mobility division remains Bosch’s largest business, employing more than 70,000 people domestically and accounting for over 60 percent of the group’s €90 billion in annual revenue.
Previous restructuring efforts not enough
Bosch has been cutting jobs for more than a year, primarily in the Mobility division but also at its household appliance subsidiary BSH and in its power tools unit.
By the start of this year, the company had already announced plans to shed nearly 15,000 jobs worldwide, including 9,000 in Germany.
Labour director Stefan Grosch admitted that the company must accelerate these measures: “We urgently need to improve competitiveness in the Mobility business and achieve lasting cost reductions. Unfortunately, that means more job cuts than previously communicated.”
Sites most affected
The layoffs will hit southern Germany particularly hard. In Stuttgart-Feuerbach, about 3,500 jobs are to be cut by 2030.
Schwieberdingen faces the loss of 1,750 jobs, while Waiblingen will see its connector technology production, with roughly 560 employees, phased out by 2028.
In Bühl and Bühlertal, Bosch expects to cut 1,550 jobs, while in Homburg in Saarland, about 1,250 positions will disappear. Other reductions will also affect the company’s headquarters.
Works council and unions vow resistance
The works council has strongly criticized the scale of the cuts. Mobility sector chairman Frank Sell warned of a “social bloodbath” in several regions if Bosch proceeds without firm commitments to safeguard sites.
He said employees were “in shock” when the news broke, describing a tense and emotional reaction at the Feuerbach site.
The IG Metall trade union also condemned the move, accusing Bosch of betraying the company’s traditional values of responsibility and solidarity.
Chairwoman Christiane Benner pledged strong resistance, arguing that the job losses threaten not only workers and their families but also the economic stability of entire regions.
