According to foreign media sources, Mercedes-Benz (hereinafter referred to as "Mercedes-Benz") is recently implementing its largest layoff plan in history. So far, about 4000 employees have accepted the severance plan and resigned, of which senior managers can receive a compensation of up to 500,000 euros.

Mercedes is implementing its largest job cuts in history, depicting the Mercedes logo (data map)

The compensation amount uses a gradient design, directly linked to the level of office and working age, and specially set up "accelerated bonuses" to encourage employees to make decisions as early as possible.

A person inside Mercedes-Benz confirmed the authenticity of the layoffs to First Financial News and said that the layoffs were based on the principle of voluntariness between both parties. In October, employees took the initiative to leave after taking the gift package.

As early as March this year, news came out that Mercedes-Benz management would send a letter to all employees in April to encourage them to leave voluntarily. The severance package is mainly aimed at employees in engineers, administration and IT fields. The severance package was launched in April, and relevant employees can apply until March 2026. At that time, Ola Källenius, CEO of Mercedes-Benz, expressed the hope that this generous resignation compensation would encourage about 30,000 employees to leave voluntarily. Officials hope to save about 5 billion euros a year by 2027 by outsourcing decisions, not filling vacant positions, and severance payments.

First financial reporter learned that around the middle of this year, the company published a notice on the internal official online, encouraging employees to voluntarily leave the job.

The reporter read a piece of information released at the end of March on the official website of Mercedes-Benz, showing that the "Sustainable Talent Plan" of Mercedes-Benz's human resources strategy in 2025 focuses on "reshaping" the strategic pillar. This pillar focuses on streamlining the organizational structure based on new products, new technologies and core competence areas, while ensuring that the transformation process is socially responsible. In March, Mercedes-Benz and the General Staff Committee reached a joint consensus on a series of extensive measures involving personnel costs and flexibility in Germany to enhance competitiveness. On this basis, the job security commitment was extended until the end of 2034. Relevant measures include a severance compensation plan for employees in indirect positions in Germany, which will be implemented in accordance with the principle of fairness and the concept of social responsibility to ensure that there will be no layoffs due to operational reasons.

Sabine Kohleisen, Member of the Board of Directors of Mercedes-Benz Corporation and Director of Human Resources and Labour Relations, said: ¡°Our goal is to remain a reliable employer for the long term in the future.We have launched a wide range of measures in partnership with the General Employee Committee to increase competitiveness while upholding social responsibility through managing human costs and improving operational flexibility.¡±

In the first half of this year, Mercedes-Benz announced large-scale layoffs and cost-cutting plans. By 2027, it will cut production and fixed costs by about 10%, and its local factory in Germany will reduce production by 100,000 vehicles. At the same time, it will implement a layoff plan for indirect positions. According to the latest plan, Mercedes-Benz will launch 36 new models in 2027, 17 of which are electric models, and announced that it will launch 7 exclusive models for China.

Official data shows that Mercedes-Benz Group's global sales in the third quarter were 525,300 units, down 12% year-on-year and 4% month-on-month respectively; its cumulative sales in the first three quarters were 1.6016 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 9%.