Restructuring across the supply chain
German automotive supplier Bosch disclosed plans on November 22, 2024, to eliminate 5,000 positions, including about 3,800 in Germany. A company spokeswoman said the final number would be determined through negotiations with employee representatives, making the announced total a plan rather than a completed round of dismissals.
Bosch linked the proposal to a changing automotive market and the need to reduce costs while investing substantially in new technologies. Manager Stephan Hölzl said the company needed to adapt its structures to market conditions and achieve lasting cost reductions to improve competitiveness. The announcement came as German manufacturers and suppliers were pursuing savings amid intense international competition.
The company expected global vehicle production to remain around 93 million units in 2024 or decline slightly from the previous year. That stagnant outlook forms one part of the pressure on suppliers: when overall production does not expand, businesses have less growth available to absorb the expense of industrial and technological changes.
Bosch also identified the transition to electric vehicles as a labor and components issue. It said electric vehicles require significantly fewer parts to manufacture and that their production is less labor-intensive. For a major component supplier, that shift affects not only which technologies attract investment but also the volume and type of work attached to each vehicle.
A separate element of the plan concerned Bosch’s steering-systems operation for cars and trucks in Swäbisch Gmünd, in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg. The company said as many as 1,300 jobs could be removed there between 2027 and 2030. That proposal followed an earlier announcement, made in December 2023, concerning 1,500 job cuts.
Employee representatives rejected the direction of the new plan. Frank Sell, head of the works council for Bosch’s German automotive division, described the intended reductions as a “slap in the face” and said workers would resist them. His response underscored that the eventual scale and implementation remained subject to discussions rather than being fixed solely by the company’s initial announcement.
Bosch was not alone among German automotive businesses in pursuing workforce reductions. Suppliers ZF, Continental and Webasto had also announced layoffs. Volkswagen was considering extensive plant closures and job losses as part of an effort to lower labor costs, citing difficulty establishing itself in the competitive electric-vehicle market. Volkswagen employee representatives had urged the company to reach an agreement and warned of possible industrial action beginning in December if negotiations failed.
The industry developments also unfolded after the European Union raised tariffs on electric vehicles imported from China to as much as 45.3% in October 2024. the available reporting does not quantify how that measure would affect Bosch’s proposed reductions.
Taken together, Bosch’s plan reflected several pressures the company itself identified: flat or slightly weaker global vehicle output, the lower component and labor requirements of electric vehicles, continuing technology investment and a drive for sustainable cost reductions. The concentration of most proposed losses in Germany ensured that negotiations with worker representatives would be central to what followed.
