Orders up 4.4%, Bosch cuts 750 jobs: a recovery without hiring
German industry reported more orders and output for September, yet on 5 November Bosch announced 750 job cuts in Abstatt and Mercedes is launching a new severance round in December.
Industrial data show signs of life; the car industry's staffing plans do not. Bosch blames cheaper Asian competitors and the fact that new braking technology launches first with Chinese customers.
What happened
According to Destatis, the federal statistics office, manufacturing orders rose by 4.4% month on month in September, and by 10.5% in the car industry. Output grew by 0.7%, and by 17.1% in carmaking after weak summer months. Over the third quarter as a whole, however, production was 0.4% below the second. On the same day as the order figures it emerged that Bosch plans to cut about 750 jobs by the end of 2029 in its Vehicle Motion division in Abstatt, near Heilbronn. Some 5,300 people work there on braking systems, vehicle-dynamics software, occupant protection and sensors. Bosch cites stagnant vehicle production, falling European demand and growing cost pressure from Asian suppliers. New technology such as brake-by-wire is increasingly introduced first with Chinese customers, so Abstatt needs less capacity. Across Germany, more than 23,000 Vehicle Motion jobs are affected in total, according to Bosch. Mercedes-Benz is reopening its severance scheme for administration, development and IT from December, for the first time including executives.
What follows
Recovering orders will not save jobs, because the cuts are structural: development and production move to where customers buy new technology first. That hits well-paid engineering jobs, not only factory work. For regions such as Heilbronn and Stuttgart it means less purchasing power and business-tax revenue for years. In the first Mercedes round about 5,500 employees left, according to media reports, and executives may be offered up to €500,000; the company has not confirmed this. Assessment: the cuts continue through voluntary exits and long time frames, which softens social hardship but drains know-how permanently.
What changes in practice
- Employees
- Jobs in car-industry development and administration keep falling despite better orders; severance replaces dismissals.
- Mid-sized suppliers
- When new technology launches first in China, development work and volumes go missing in Germany.
- Regions
- Heilbronn and Stuttgart lose well-paid engineering jobs over several years.
What to watch
- Negotiations between Bosch and the works council in Abstatt
- Destatis order figures for October in early December
- The number of applications in the new Mercedes severance round
Sources
- Destatis: Auftragseingang im Verarbeitenden Gewerbe im September 2026, 5.11.2026
- Destatis: Production in September 2026, 6.11.2026
- Stuttgarter Zeitung: Bosch Mobility: Weitere 750 Stellen fallen weg, 5.11.2026
- autohaus.de (dpa): Standort Abstatt: Bosch streicht weitere 750 Arbeitsplätze, 5.11.2026
- mbpassion: Mercedes-Benz legt Abfindungsprogramm neu auf, 2.11.2026
- elektroauto-news: Mercedes-Benz: China-Schwäche treibt neuen Stellenabbau, 2.10.2026