German tech firm Continental plans to cut 3,000 R&D jobs in its Automotive Group segment by the end of 2026. Half of these will be in Germany and represent around 10% of the R&D work force, within the Automotive Group, which it plans to spin off by the end of this year despite the car industry downturn. The business makes products including brakes and automated driving systems, and accounts for roughly half of group revenue.
The move comes on top of 7,000 job cuts already announced by the company in a restructuring programme that has been in the works for over a year.
Continental also aims to reduce its R&D ratio to below 10% by 2027, it added.
Less than half of the job cuts will take place in Germany, Continental said, with sites in Babenhausen and in Frankfurt being the most affected, with a 12% and 5% reduction planned respectively, Continental said.
Further affected sites would be Ingolstadt, Regensburg and Schwalbach, the company added.
Additional measures are also to be taken at the Elekrobit and Continental Engineering Services subsidiaries, where a total of 900 people are to be laid off. Of those, 660 will be in Germany.
Europe’s automotive sector is struggling with weak demand, higher production costs and competition from China, which has led many companies in the sector to announce layoffs and plant closures.
Schaeffler AG, ZF Friedrichshafen AG and Robert Bosch GmbH have all said in recent months that they’re planning to axe thousands of jobs in response to the downturn.
Automakers are also taking drastic steps to deal with the drop in demand. Volkswagen AG reached an agreement with labour leaders late last year to cut 35,000 jobs in Germany by 2030, while Porsche AG plans to trim its workforce by 1,900 employees in Germany by the end of the decade.