BMW Group Issues 2026 Profit Margin Guidance and Announces 8,000 Global Layoffs

Recently, BMW Group released its 2026 profit margin guidance, with the automotive segment's EBIT margin expected to range between -0.5% and 0.5%. This figure is on par with the -0.6% recorded in 2009. BMW announced 8,000 job cuts globally, with 1,800 to 2,000 positions being eliminated at the BMW Brilliance Shenyang plant. BMW delivered 551,100 vehicles globally in the third quarter, down 6.3% year-on-year, of which 114,400 were delivered in the Chinese market, down 24.8% year-on-year. BMW Brilliance's sales fell from 673,600 units in 2021 to 525,700 units in 2025, and stood at 316,900 units in the first three quarters of 2026, a year-on-year drop of over 33%. The decline is concentrated in the 300,000 to 600,000 yuan price band. Employees in Munich, Germany can receive voluntary departure compensation of up to 650,000 euros (approximately 4.87 million yuan), and the 8,000 slots were filled within three days. BMW has set aside 1 billion euros in one-time expenses for this and plans to save 1 billion euros in labor costs annually starting from 2028. BMW Brilliance in Shenyang adopted an N+5 compensation plan, where N is calculated based on pre-tax monthly salary and 5 is based on base salary, involving three plants — Dadong, Tiexi, and Powertrain — mainly affecting P-category production positions. Based on an estimated per-capita annual comprehensive labor cost of 150,000 to 200,000 yuan, the layoffs are expected to save 270 million to 360 million yuan annually, with total N+5 compensation amounting to approximately 216 million yuan. On October 15, sixth-generation high-voltage power batteries went into mass production at the Shenyang Powertrain plant. The Neue Klasse iX3 opened for pre-sales in August and will be officially delivered in November, featuring a native pure electric platform, full-domain 800V, with the 50L version offering a CLTC range of 919 kilometers and a starting price of 269,900 yuan. In the first quarter of 2027, the eighth-generation 3 Series developed specifically for China — the Neue Klasse i3 — will be delivered, with a CLTC range exceeding 1,000 kilometers. In 2027, BMW plans to launch nearly 20 models equipped with the Neue Klasse technology cluster.