BMW closes severance program early due to high demand

The interest of employees in BMW’s severance payment program is apparently so great that the Group closes the registration earlier than planned. The offers were probably often clearly in the six-digit range.

Updated: Oct 20, 2026, 3:58 PM 2 min read deublitz newsroom Negative

Workers on a roof in front of BMW headquarters in Munich

Germany’s car manufacturers are in a deep crisis, BMW also wants to cut jobs. Because thousands of employees want to leave the company, the group closes its severance payment program early. The goal of the voluntary cancellation program was reached early on, according to BMW. Just under three weeks ago, tens of thousands of employees in Germany had received their severance payments offers. The programme should now be completed by mid-November.

Then all interested parties should know whether a termination agreement comes about, it is said from circles. This will be the case for most, but not all, interested parties. Further registrations for the program are no longer possible.

BMW had announced the severance payment program in Germany in the summer, without specifying a specific target number. At that time, however, it had also been said from corporate circles that around 8,000 jobs are being cut worldwide, a good half of them in Germany. This shows that probably around 5000 employees have registered interest in the severance payment program.

When the severance compensation offers were published at the beginning of October, the interest of the employees to see their personal offer was apparently so great that, according to circles, the systems were temporarily overloaded. This was only for a few hours. Anyone who was interested could register it.

From earlier statements of the Group it can be deduced that the provisions for the severance payment program amount to a good one billion euros. From a purely mathematical point of view, many severance payments contracts are likely to be clearly in the six-digit range.

Originally, BMW had named as the target for the severance compensation program October 2027. However, this refers to the latest end of employment. As can be heard from circles, not every contract will end immediately.

In Germany, the severance pay program was only aimed at so-called indirect employees, such as administration or development. Employees in production were explicitly excluded. This is why employees in Munich are particularly affected – simply because most people work there outside of production.