BMW says it aims to cut a fifth of management jobs with AI help
The plan surfaced at BMW's capital markets day for investors, where the company also laid out plans to rebuild profit margins.
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The company did not say how many jobs that would involve or set out a timeline for the change.
The statement came as BMW held a capital markets day for investors on Wednesday. Bernstein analysts said the company would set out plans for more local production as it works to rebuild margins, Reuters reported via US News. BMW's margins have been under pressure since June 2026, when it issued its third profit warning in just over three years, citing weakness in its China business, according to the same report.
That programme runs from October 2026 through the end of 2027 and covers administrative and development roles in Germany, excluding production staff.
Trimming management ranks with AI tools would mark a shift in where automakers look for savings, moving cost discipline from the factory floor into white collar layers that have largely been spared from restructuring so far. The scale of the plan BMW has described suggests it sees AI as capable of taking over coordination and oversight work, not only production tasks, an approach other manufacturers facing pressure from the shift to electric vehicles and competition from Chinese carmakers are likely to watch closely. How BMW judges whether the plan works, by cost savings, faster decisions or headcount reduction alone, will shape whether rivals set comparable targets of their own.