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BMW to eliminate 8,100 jobs
By Yoann Besnard on 28 February 2008 | 
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BMW has announced it will cut 8100 jobs, 7.5% of its workforce, as part of the part of a plan announced last year to increase its profitability.
The temporary workers will be the first to leave the company as 5,000 of them will lose their contract at the end of this year. Also 3,100 permanent jobs will be eliminated whose 2,500 in Germany only as the country suffers from high labour costs. Only 600 jobs will be eliminated overseas. Furthermore, if Euro goes beyond €1.50, the carmaker would cut more jobs in Germany.
In May last year, the carmaker had announced its intention to build the next-generation X3 in the US due to the weak dollar effect on profit margins. The company plans to increase the production capacity of the american factory, located in Spartanburg, to 200,000 vehicles.
BMW wants to increase its profitability to 10% by 2012. In addition to job cuts, the company asked its suppliers to decrease their prices, The move surprised them as BMW is well known to never focus on prices but on quality.