German automaker BMW has launched a voluntary redundancy program offering substantial severance packages. According to the German newspaper Bild, interest in participation was so high that the company's corporate portal could not handle the load, forcing management to temporarily suspend applications. As the publication notes, demand for the program exceeded management's expectations, although the exact number of applicants and the date for resuming applications have not been disclosed.
Scale of Upcoming Redundancies
The voluntary resignation program is part of a broader optimization plan: BMW intends to cut up to 8,000 jobs, primarily at production facilities in Germany. The automaker has allocated approximately €1 billion for compensation payments in 2026, and according to Bild, plans to direct an even larger sum to 2027. Thus, the company is budgeting a two-year workforce restructuring program.
What Determines Compensation Amounts
Severance pay is calculated individually and depends on the employee's age, length of service, and salary level. According to Bild, payouts for older workers can reach approximately €50,000 for each year of service. In individual cases, the total compensation can reach up to €600,000, making the program one of the most generous staff reduction tools in the automotive industry.
Portal Fails Under Surge of Applications
A key fact pointed out by Bild is the technical overload of the corporate portal: the number of requests was so large that the system could not cope, and application intake was temporarily suspended. The automaker is not publishing either the exact number of participants or the timeline for resuming intake, leaving room for various estimates regarding the actual scale of the brain drain.
Context: Transformation Amid the Electric Vehicle Race
The decision on large-scale cuts comes against the backdrop of BMW's active transformation toward electric vehicles. It was previously reported that the BMW i3 50L model traveled over 1,200 km on a single charge, highlighting the company's technological focus. Combining record electric vehicle performance with the simultaneous reduction of up to 8,000 positions shows that the concern is reallocating resources: part of the budget is going not only into development but also into compensating departing employees.
