Association calls job losses in the automotive industry alarming

According to the industry association VDA, the crisis in the automotive industry has cost almost 120,000 jobs in Germany since 2019. A turnaround is not in sight and this development is alarming, said VDA expert Manuel Kallweit at the Automotive Forum in Zwickau.

Compared to other European automotive countries such as France and Italy, however, production in Germany has recently stabilized. This is mainly due to the ramp-up of e-cars.

The job cuts have reportedly hit the supplier industry harder than the car manufacturers themselves. While the decline from August 2019 to August 2025 was 14 percent for the industry as a whole, manufacturers of vehicle parts reported a drop of 24 percent. In total, the automotive industry in Germany recently employed a good 716,000 people.

According to a survey by the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), the biggest challenge for suppliers at the moment, apart from bureaucracy, is the lack of orders. According to the industry association, suppliers are currently suffering from the lowest order intake since the coronavirus pandemic. Electricity prices are only mentioned in fifth place - after volatile customer call-offs and taxes and duties.

Germany in second place worldwide for e-cars

Despite the current sales crisis, Germany can boast successes in the ramp-up of e-mobility. "We are the second largest production location for electric vehicles in the world," emphasized Kallweit. More e-cars are built in Germany than in the USA, Japan, South Korea or any of the European countries. But the gap to China is large.

Saxony is a hotspot for e-mobility within Germany. In itself, the Free State is one of the top 10 production locations in the world, said Kallweit. Volkswagen's Zwickau car factory, for example, was a pioneer in the switch to e-cars within the Group. However, it is struggling with low capacity utilization and is also set to hand over models to other VW sites for the foreseeable future. This has many employees fearing for the future of their plant and their jobs. Staff cuts have also been taking place here for some time.