Schaeffler job cuts: four German sites to close

The Schaeffler job cuts announced on 3 November hit four German sites directly. The car and industrial supplier from Herzogenaurach in Bavaria plans to cut a net 3,460 jobs in Europe, about 2,660 of them in Germany, and to close its locations in Dortmund, Morbach, Berlin and Schwalbach over time. The company blames the slump in the European car market, while the union IG Metall and the works council accuse management of weakening Germany as an industrial location.

It is the second large savings programme at Schaeffler in two years. Most of the measures are to take effect in 2027 and 2028, and the details still have to be negotiated with employee representatives.

Schaeffler job cuts: the numbers

Of the 3,460 jobs, around 2,660 are in Germany and about 800 in other European countries, spread across 16 locations. Half of the cuts fall on production, 30 percent on research and development and 20 percent on other functions such as administration. Schaeffler had 31,957 permanent employees in Germany at the end of September, so the new cuts equal roughly 9 percent of its German workforce. If earlier programmes and 1,800 recently signed early retirement contracts, known as Altersteilzeit, are added, the reduction reaches about 18 percent, the company says.

The programme is expensive at first. Chief executive Klaus Rosenfeld put the one-off costs at about 480 million euros, most of which will be booked in 2026. From 2030, Schaeffler expects the cuts to improve its results by around 300 million euros a year. The company also wants to remove management layers, and according to Handelsblatt, quoted by the trade site electrive, at least two of the seven levels below the board are to disappear.

Which sites close and who is affected

The plant in Dortmund, with 430 employees, and the site in Morbach in Rhineland-Palatinate, with 160, both make parts for combustion engines and belong to the Powertrain and Chassis division. Both are to close. In Berlin, Schaeffler wants to end its operations, which affects about 270 people. The site in Schwalbach am Taunus near Frankfurt, with about 385 employees, is to be given up as well: around 190 jobs there are to go, and most of the remaining staff are to move to Schaeffler's location in Frankfurt, hessenschau and produktion.de report. The company has not said when exactly the individual sites will close.

Other German locations face cuts without closing. Tool-making in Höchstadt is to end, the special machinery units in Erlangen and Schweinfurt will be reduced, and Herzogenaurach, Bühl, Nuremberg and Regensburg will also lose jobs. Outside Germany, the small plant in Herstal in Belgium, with about 15 employees, will close, and capacity will be cut in Haguenau and Toulouse in France and in Skalica and Kysuce in Slovakia.

Why Schaeffler is cutting jobs again

Schaeffler points to weak demand for cars with combustion engines, a slower than expected switch to electric cars and tougher competition. Electric motors need far fewer components than combustion engines, which hurts suppliers whose business was built on engine and gearbox parts, ZDF explains. The company also says personnel costs per employee in Germany are above average and that its organisation has become too complex.

The latest figures show the pressure. In the first nine months of 2026, revenue fell slightly to 17.5 billion euros, and net profit attributable to shareholders was only 11 million euros, after a loss of 244 million a year earlier. The e-mobility division lost 571 million euros before special items. Schaeffler grew much larger in 2024 when it took over its rival Vitesco, and in November 2024 it had already announced 4,700 job cuts, about 2,800 of them in Germany. According to Dr. Web, 3,715 jobs had been cut by the end of September 2026. The company hopes to create some new work in humanoid robotics and defence technology, where it says it can use know-how from its core business.

Pay cuts, unions and the Schaeffler job cuts

One new element is a temporary, voluntary pay cut for the remaining staff, starting with the board and reaching all management levels. Rosenfeld told RTL and ntv that the board would give up 10 percent of its pay, autohaus reports. Without this solidarity contribution, the job cuts would have been even larger, the company says. Schaeffler describes the programme as a clear commitment to Germany as a location, and it wants to implement it on the basis of a future agreement with employee representatives dating from 2018.

The employee side sees it differently. Thomas Höhn, who represents IG Metall at Schaeffler, said that one cut programme follows the next before the consequences of the previous one have been dealt with. "That is not a future concept for Germany as an industrial location," he said. Uli Schoepplein, head of the group works council, said that cutting jobs, closing sites and reducing personnel costs weakens Germany as a location rather than strengthening it. The union and the works council want a binding plan that names products, investments and jobs for the German sites until 2030. Whether all four closures go ahead and how many dismissals will be needed depends on the negotiations with the works councils. Car industry expert Stefan Bratzel told ZDF that the industry should not slow down on electric mobility despite the current weakness.

What the Schaeffler job cuts mean for expats

If you work at one of the affected sites, in production or in engineering and research, nothing changes overnight. Schaeffler plans to present details at staff meetings, and closures and dismissals must first be negotiated with the works council, which usually leads to a Sozialplan, a social plan with severance and support measures. When Schaeffler closed its plant in Steinhagen, 170 of 196 employees moved into a Transfergesellschaft, a transfer company that pays staff for six to twelve months while they look for new jobs, Dr. Web reports.

If your residence permit is linked to your job, speak to the Ausländerbehörde, the immigration office, early, before your contract actually ends. As soon as you know the date your job ends, register as a job seeker with the Agentur für Arbeit: at least three months in advance, or within three days if you learn of it at shorter notice, otherwise a one-week block on unemployment benefit can follow. Schaeffler is not alone. Our report on the latest VW job cuts shows how widely the car industry is shrinking, and Bosch announced large cuts as well.