Figures compiled by European trade body Clepa and shared with the FT show that parts suppliers announced 50,000 job losses in 2025, following 54,000 in 2024, in a sign of continued distress for the struggling sector.
Bosch, the world’s largest auto supplier, announced in September it would cut 13,000 jobs by 2030 after saying it faced an annual cost gap of €2.5bn, leading to protests from employees last month.
After parts makers Valeo, Forvia and Schaeffler announced plans in 2024 to cut thousands of jobs, last year saw the announcement of further job cuts at Continental’s automotive parts division, since spun off under the brand Aumovio.
That’s not the reason, total sales are way down, and if you want to blame anyone, blame the poor quality and poor reliability of european cars and brilliant ideas like subscriptions to hardware, and the complete focus on high profit margin cars no one is buying.