Daimler to ax 10,000 jobs in latest industry cuts

FRANKFURT -- Daimler will cut at least 10,000 jobs worldwide over the next three years, following others in the industry as they cut costs to invest in electric vehicles while grappling with weakening sales.

Daimler, which owns Mercedes-Benz, revealed the 3 percent cut in its workforce on Friday after reaching an agreement on its plans with labor unions. It marks the third announcement on cost cuts this week by a major German automaker.

In Germany, where the largest number of Daimler employees are based, workers will be offered severance payments and early retirement, Daimler said in a news release.

Staff reductions would be in the low five-digits, or at least 10,000 people, according to Wilfried Porth, a board member in charge of human resources. The company employed 304,680 staff at the end of the third quarter.

Daimler had said on Nov. 14 that it plans to reduce headcount at its Mercedes-Benz cars division to help manage the disruptive shift to self-driving and electric cars.

The job cuts are aimed at saving more than 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) by the end of 2022. The cuts include eliminating 1,100 leadership positions worldwide, or about 10 percent of its management.

"The automotive industry is in the middle of the biggest transformation in its history," Daimler said on Friday.

In addition to the job cuts, employees will be offered the possibility to work fewer hours. There will be a squeeze on the use of temporary workers.

German automakers are intensifying their efforts to reduce costs to fund the heavy investments needed for electric cars and autonomous vehicle technologies.

Audi said on Tuesday that it plans to cut about 15 percent of its German workforce to protect its profitability.

BMW is reducing bonuses for workers to cut labor costs, but has said it will avoid "drastic measures."

Daimler's job cuts come after new CEO Ola Kallenius warned that returns may remain depressed for the next two years. His target for 2020 of at least 4 percent operating return on sales at the main Mercedes cars unit disappointed investors, coming in at less than half of what French mass-market automaker PSA Group generated in the first half of this year.

The terms of Daimler’s existing collective bargaining agreement, including a scheduled pay raise next year, remain unaffected by the cutbacks, the automaker’s works council said in a separate statement.

Reuters and Bloomberg contributed to this report.