Continental has announced that it will lose thousands of workers as part of cost-cutting and restructuring measures aimed at annual cost savings of €400m by 2025.
The company said the aim is to create leaner business and administrative structures worldwide as well as quicker decision-making processes. The company’s organizational structure is streamlined from six to five business areas.
To streamline the business structure of Automotive, the business area Smart Mobility will be dissolved. The sector will be consolidated into five business areas instead of the previous six. The business areas will be as follows: Architecture and Networking, Autonomous Mobility, Safety and Motion, Software and Central Technologies and User Experience.
The Commercial Vehicle, Automotive Aftermarket, and Actuator business are reallocated within Automotive.
In a statement, Continental said the exact number of globally affected jobs is ‘not decided yet but is expected to be in the mid four-digit range at Automotive’. Further, the company said it is planning to implement all measures as ‘socially responsible as possible’. The Automotive sector is also currently examining additional measures to ‘increase efficiency in the R&D area’. A comprehensive strategy update for the sector will be provided at Continental’s Capital Markets Day on December 4, 2023.
“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,” said 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.”
In 2022, Continental generated sales of €39.4 billion and currently employs around 200,000 people in 57 countries and markets.
