Newspaper: German auto industry faces mass layoffs

Germany’s automotive industry could see up to 200,000 job cuts, Bild newspaper reported.

According to the newspaper, the crisis in the sector stems from weak quarterly results posted by Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen.

 The main causes cited were the large number of public holidays and high labour costs.

Automotive expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer warned that the industry’s lack of profitability could lead to the loss of about 200,000 jobs across the sector — including automakers, suppliers, and mechanical engineering specialists.

Meanwhile, Stefan Bratzel, a representative of the Centre of Automotive Management research institute, noted that German exports are also under pressure from US-imposed tariffs.

He stressed that German production is already very expensive, and incorporating the tariffs introduced by US President Donald Trump into product prices — even when justified by high quality — is simply not feasible.

By Tamilla Hasanova