Senior automaker Audi said on Monday it would lay off 7,500 jobs in Germany by 2029, citing the country’s auto industry is working to slow down demand for electric vehicles and growth in competition in China.
The cuts, totaling about 8% of Audi’s global workforce, are designed to increase “productivity, speed and flexibility” at its local market plants, the manufacturer said.
“The economy is getting worse, and competitive pressures and political uncertainty are facing huge challenges to the company,” Audi, a subsidiary of Volkswagen, said in a statement.
This is the latest bad news from the pathological automotive industry from Europe’s largest economy, which is hit hard by fierce competition and weak demand in major markets in China from local competitors.
Audi, headquartered in the Bavarian city of Ingolstadt, said the cuts will be carried out in areas such as government and development and in a “socially responsible” manner, meaning there will be no mandatory layoffs.
The automaker employs about 88,000 people worldwide, including 55,000 in Germany.
The layoffs are part of a series of measures, including cutting bureaucracy, which Audi says is intended to save 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) a year.
However, the automaker also said it plans to farm two of the largest locations (Ingolstadt and Neckarsm in Germany) in about 8 billion euros, partly because it helps the transition to electric vehicles (EVs).
This will include investments in artificial intelligence and in the production of another electric model in the entry-level field.
Audi, which was hit hard by slowing demand for electric vehicles, closed a Belgian factory in February that employed about 3,000 people and built high-end electric vehicles.
The automaker’s all-electric vehicles fell 8% year-on-year to about 164,000 in 2024.
Delivery in the Chinese market, accounting for nearly 40% of the global total, fell by about 11%.
Audi’s parent company Volkswagen (which manufactures 10 brands in total) announced in December that it will lay off 35,000 jobs on the Volkswagen brand of the same name in Germany in 2030.
SR/RL
