Continental Automotive announces thousands of job cuts in 400-million-euro cost-saving plans

Continental has announced plans for 400 million euros of annual cost-savings in its Automotive sector by 2025. The aim is to “create leaner business and administrative structures worldwide as well as quicker decision-making processes”. And that means streamlining the organisational structure within Automotive from six to five business areas.

The exact number of affected jobs globally has not yet been decided but the moves will impact thousands of positions “across all parts and all levels of the organization” and the total number of job cuts will be in the “mid four-digit range at Automotive”.

The Automotive sector is also currently examining additional measures to increase efficiency in the R&D area.

To streamline the business structure of Automotive, the Smart Mobility business area will be dissolved. And thus the sector will be consolidated into five business areas instead of the previous six. That specifically means Automotive will be made up of Architecture and Networking, Autonomous Mobility, Safety and Motion, Software and Central Technologies and User Experience moving forwards.

“Our goal is to create a sustainably profitable sector that can invest in its future from its own resources. With the adjustments to our structure, we bring technology solutions to those business areas where we see synergies. This will allow us to respond even better to market requirements,” explained Philipp von Hirschheydt, Executive Board Member at Continental and Head of Automotive.

“These initial measures are important for improving the competitiveness of the Automotive sector. We will now tackle them step by step and continue to implement them. Simplifying structures and reducing functions is essential for our successful future. To significantly improve efficiency and effectiveness, we are looking at all functions and processes without reservations, from sales to research and from development to production. We are also entering discussions with the social partners to identify suitable measures.”

As part of the transition phase in 2024, parts of the previous Smart Mobility business area will be reallocated and managed in other Automotive business areas based on natural overlaps. The new allocation will focus on three businesses: commercial vehicle electronics and services for the management of commercial vehicle fleets – something that has an inherent connection to the tyre business via TPMS and in-tyre sensor as well as wider telematics technology, actuator solutions for passenger cars and the automotive aftermarket business.

Further details will be released at Continental’s Capital Markets Day on 4 December 2023.

In February 2023, Continental announced plans relating to the restructuring of its ContiTech business.