Crisis in the automotive industry

Continental cuts 3000 more jobs

Continental headquarters in Frankfurt am Main

(Bild: dpa)

The German supplier Continental wants to cut further jobs in view of the crisis in the automotive industry. By the end of 2026, 3000 jobs in development and research are to be cut worldwide, including 1450 in Germany. Hesse and Bavaria are particularly affected. The Nuremberg site is to close completely. 

• Continental had already announced a year ago that it would cut 7150 jobs in the automotive division, 5400 of which would be in administration and 1750 in development. This has now been 80 to 90 percent implemented. With the further 3000 jobs now announced, the number has risen to more than 10,000. Continental justified the further cuts with the worsening situation in the automotive industry.

• 220 developer jobs are to be cut once again at the largest automotive site in Frankfurt, which has 4000 employees. Conti had already cut hundreds of jobs there last year. There are just as many in Babenhausen in Hesse, which currently has around 1800 employees. According to the company, the closure of the engineering site in Nuremberg will affect 140 employees.

• Around ten percent of the 31,000 development positions worldwide are to be cut. The aim is to reduce expenditure on research to less than ten percent of turnover by 2027.

Head of the works council: "No viable strategy for the future"
Sharp criticism came from the employee side. "We are deeply concerned that the deep cuts in automotive research and development are turning into a comprehensive slash-and-burn strategy," said Michael Iglhaut, Head of the General Works Council.

"Job cuts and cost reductions at any price" are not a sustainable strategy for the future. The "deliberate bleeding of the German locations" weakens the division, which Continental intends to make independent this year.