Mercedes-Benz reopens voluntary severance programme in Germany
Mercedes-Benz will once again offer its voluntary severance programme for indirect functions in Germany, starting in December, as part of stepped-up productivity measures while the carmaker cuts its profitability outlook for the year. According to the group's quarterly report, since June Mercedes-Benz has intensified its global productivity measures with a particular focus on its German sites, building on a reduction in fixed costs of around 25% since 2019. The company has not said how many employees it hopes will take up the new offer. The previous round was already costly: in the first nine months, Mercedes-Benz paid out around EUR 1.1 billion for restructuring, mainly related to the severance programme in Germany. As the outlook for the car business weakens, Mercedes-Benz Cars now expects an adjusted return on sales of 2–3% for 2026, down from 3–5% previously; the group cites a tougher market in China and higher costs for raw materials and product lifecycle measures in the fourth quarter, and Group EBIT is now expected to be at last year's level rather than significantly above. In the third quarter, the car division's adjusted EBIT halved to EUR 560 million and its adjusted return on sales fell to 2.5% from 4.8%; car sales fell 8% to 407,232 vehicles, mainly because of intense competition in China, while outside China sales rose, with growth of 5% in Europe and 6% in the US, and sales of fully electric cars reached a quarterly record, up 61% year on year.
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- Impact score
- 50 / 100, medium impact