Schaeffler plans 3,460 European job cuts, 2,660 in Germany, to save about €300m a year from 2030
Schaeffler will close five sites, four in Germany, and cut 3,460 European posts in a programme costing about €480m in one-off expenses, after its 2024 measures.
Schaeffler plans to cut 3,460 jobs in Europe, about 2,660 of them in Germany, to save about €300m a year from 2030.
The Herzogenaurach-based supplier said on Tuesday the programme will carry one-off expenses of about €480m, most of it booked as restructuring provisions in 2026.
About 800 of the posts are outside Germany. The cuts touch 16 European locations, and five sites are due to close, four of them in Germany.
Schaeffler said about 50% of the affected positions are in production, 30% in research and development and 20% in other functions.
The Dortmund plant, with 430 employees, and the Morbach site, with 160, are on the closure list. Both belong to the Powertrain & Chassis division and make products for combustion engines.
Operations at Berlin, which employs about 270 people, will stop and Schwalbach will close. A large portion of the roughly 385 employees there is expected to move to Frankfurt, and around 190 positions will go.
The Herstal site in Belgium, with about 15 employees, will also close. Capacity will be adjusted in Haguenau and Toulouse in France and in Skalica and Kysuce in Slovakia.
The programme follows the measures Schaeffler announced in November 2024 and 1,800 partial-retirement agreements concluded in early October.
Against a German core workforce of 31,957 at 30 September, the share of positions removed by 2028 rises to about 18% once those earlier programmes and agreements are counted.
Schaeffler named weaker demand for combustion-engine vehicles and a delayed ramp-up of electric mobility as causes. It also cited above-average costs per employee in Germany and too many management levels.
Trade outlet electrive reported that the e-mobility division had a negative EBIT margin of 14.8% in the first nine months of the year, with losses of €571m. EBIT is earnings before interest and tax.
Electrive also cited Handelsblatt as reporting that at least two of the seven management levels below the executive board are to go.
A “solidarity contribution” will accompany the cuts, including a temporary voluntary pay reduction starting with the board and reaching all levels. Schaeffler said it should ease the income statement in 2027 and 2028, and that without it the job cuts would have been larger.
Klaus Rosenfeld, chief executive of Schaeffler, said the aim is to show “it is both possible and sensible to develop and manufacture in Germany and Europe in a way that is competitive and cost-efficient over the long term”.
The programme mainly concerns the automotive original-equipment business, which supplies carmakers directly. Schaeffler said at least part of the reduction is to be offset by new posts in growth areas.
Jochen Schröder, chief operating officer, said the group has “promising growth opportunities in future-oriented fields”, naming humanoid robotics and defence. The wider squeeze on European suppliers is the backdrop to the plan.
Schaeffler said most of the structural measures are scheduled for 2027 and 2028, and detailed plans for each site will go to local staff meetings.
