BMW revealed on July 29, 2026, that it will cut roughly 8,000 jobs globally by the end of 2027, mainly through a voluntary redundancy program targeting desk-based employees in administration, R&D, product planning, and corporate functions [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]. About half of the job cuts, around 4,000 positions, will be in Germany, where BMW employs more than 85,000 people out of its global workforce of 154,000 to 160,000 [1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]. The reduction will focus on non-production roles, explicitly excluding factory floor and production line workers [1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9].

The voluntary redundancy program is set to begin in October 2026 and run through 2027. It will offer buyouts to about 40,000 German desk-based employees, aiming to streamline management layers alongside cuts in research, development, and administration [1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]. BMW expects the job cuts to incur approximately 1 billion euros in one-time severance costs, primarily related to the German workforce [4].

BMW CEO Milan Nedeljkovic, who took over the role in May 2026, said the company faces "rapidly escalating challenges" and stressed the importance of being "lean and agile" to adjust to the automotive industry's shifting landscape [3, 10, 7, 11]. He also highlighted that the foundational rules of BMW's business model have substantially changed [3]. BMW’s CFO, Walter Mertl, noted that "competition in the global automotive market has sharpened noticeably" [11].

The job cuts come amid broader cost-cutting measures driven by several pressures, including increased competition from Chinese rivals, US tariffs, weaker demand in China, and heavy investments in new electric vehicle platforms [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, 8, 9]. BMW’s vehicle deliveries in China fell 30% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2026, reaching the lowest level since 2017, while quarterly pretax earnings dropped 35% [1, 11, 8, 9]. The firm issued a profit warning in June 2026, attributing it to poor performance in China and challenging market conditions globally [1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9].

BMW’s operating margin for Q2 2026 stood at 2.3%, down from 5.4% a year earlier but slightly above analyst forecasts [10, 11].

The voluntary redundancy program will start offering buyout options to affected German employees in October 2026 as part of BMW’s accelerated efforts to improve profitability.