BMW aims to cut about 8,000 jobs worldwide between October 2026 and the end of 2027, according to a company source cited by Reuters and Euronews on July 29, 2026. Roughly 40,000 of BMW's 85,000 permanent German employees, all in non-production roles, will receive voluntary buyout offers starting in October, while assembly-line workers are spared. The program books about 1 billion euros in one-off severance costs and targets a similar amount in annual savings from 2028.
BMW is scaling back after the heavy investment phase of its Neue Klasse electric vehicle range, with China demand weakening and EV margins thin. The leak landed alongside a profit warning and pending workforce talks; BMW has not formally confirmed the figure. It joins a wider German auto contraction tracked here, with Volkswagen, Porsche, and supplier Bosch all running multiyear cut programs.