Schaeffler to cut 3,460 jobs in Europe and close four German sites

What happened

Schaeffler is launching another performance improvement programme that will cut a net 3,460 positions in Europe, around 2,660 of them in Germany, and close five sites, four of them in Germany; the cuts will affect 16 sites in Europe. About half of the positions are in production, 30% in R&D and 20% in other functions, with implementation scheduled mainly for 2027 and 2028. The company cites weak demand for combustion engine vehicles and a slower-than-expected ramp-up of electric mobility as the cause. In Germany, Schaeffler plans to close the Dortmund plant, which employs 430 people, and the Morbach plant with 160 employees, both belonging to the Powertrain & Chassis division and making products for combustion engines; operations at the Berlin site with about 270 employees will be discontinued and the Schwalbach site will be closed, with many of the roughly 385 employees at those two sites expected to move to Frankfurt but about 190 positions cut; outside Germany, the Herstal site in Belgium with around 15 employees will close, and capacity will also be reduced at Haguenau and Toulouse in France and in Skalica and Kysuce in Slovakia. The 2,660 positions correspond to about 9% of Schaeffler's core workforce in Germany, which stood at 31,957 employees at the end of September; including earlier programmes and the 1,800 partial retirement agreements signed in October, the figure rises to around 18%. Alongside the cuts, Schaeffler plans a solidarity contribution, including a temporary, voluntary pay cut across all levels starting with the Board of Managing Directors, and says the cuts would otherwise have been even larger. Schaeffler expects the programme to improve earnings by around EUR 300 million a year from 2030, with one-time costs of around EUR 480 million, most of which will be booked as restructuring provisions as early as this year.

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Source and time

Source: Evertiq · 11/3/2026 · View original source