According to media reports, Bosch, the world’s largest automotive supplier, stated that,The company plans to cut about 1,200 jobs in its software and electronics divisions by the end of 2026.The division, which has about 20,000 employees, is responsible for developing self-driving cars. As for the reasons for the layoffs, Bosch said:The first reason is that the development of fully autonomous driving is slower than expected.The second is external environmental factors such as rising energy and commodity prices, high inflation, and economic weakness.
It is worth noting that this layoff may be just the beginning. In just 2 months, Bosch has announced layoffs twice.
In December last year, Bosch announced that it planned to lay off at least 1,500 employees at its two factories in Germany by 2025 to adapt to the changing needs and technologies of the automotive industry.
Reasons for the layoffs include high upfront expenses, lower employment demand in the electric vehicle sector, and a weakening global economy;Since the beginning of the year, the company has faced far greater challenges than expected.
However, since Bosch's current labor agreement prohibits any layoffs before 2027, this round of layoffs will mainly be implemented through soft measures such as early retirement, freeze on recruitment, and reduction of existing employees' working hours.
At present, Bosch's 2023 financial report has not yet been announced. Its revenue in fiscal year 2022 is 88.2 billion euros, a year-on-year increase of 12%, and its profit before interest and tax reached 3.8 billion euros, higher than the previous year;
However, although Bosch's automotive division has a turnover of 52.6 billion euros, its profit margin is the lowest among all Bosch's businesses, only 3.4%. The layoffs planned are also for automotive business employees.
And as of the end of 2022,The Bosch Group has more than 420,000 employees worldwide and remains the world's largest supplier to automobile companies.