Flags flutter in the breeze outside the facility of German auto parts manufacturer Continental AG, in Frankfurt am Main, central Germany on October 28, 2021. - The Continental site in Frankfurt am Main is the headquarters of their Autonomous Mobility and Safety (AMS) business unit. (Photo by Thomas Lohnes / AFP) (Photo by THOMAS LOHNES/AFP via Getty Images)
A Continental facility in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The company is planning layoffs in its Automotive division.
Thomas Lohnes/AFP/Getty Images

Berlin — German car parts manufacturer Continental will cut thousands of jobs worldwide as part of a plan to save €400 million ($428 million) a year from 2025, it said Monday.

The exact number of job losses was not immediately clear. The cuts, in the company’s Automotive division, which produces software, safety features and autonomous driving technology, will amount to the “mid-four-digit range,” Continental said.

The news comes amid reports that Continental plans a restructuring and potential selloffs, with CEO Nikolai Setzer saying in September that he was considering a change in ownership of the company’s ContiTech division.

The group’s main businesses are making tires; the Automotive division; and a third division making digital technologies for autos and other sectors called ContiTech.

The works council of the Automotive division urged the company in an internal statement seen by Reuters to rule out outright layoffs and use all possible measures to keep its workforce on, from part-time retirement for older workers to retraining and reallocating staff.

German business publication Manager Magazin reported the planned cuts in the Automotive division Sunday, saying they could number around 5,500, more than 1,100 of which would be at the company’s 30 locations in Germany.

The group as a whole employed around 200,000 people around the world as of the end of 2022.

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Continental’s Monday statement did not confirm the figure reported by Manager Magazin but said planned cuts would focus on simplifying and streamlining its business and administrative structure via a range of measures across everything from sales to research and development to production.

The number of business areas within the Automotive division will be reduced from six to five.

Continental will provide a full strategy update at its capital markets day on December 4, the statement said.

Last week the company reported that the Automotive business returned to profit in the third quarter and predicted a strong quarter ahead. However, it also said demand for passenger cars would grow more slowly next year.