Mercedes-Benz relaunches severance pay program in Germany

Mercedes-Benz is relaunching its severance pay program for employees in Germany. The program is expected to start in December, the car manufacturer announced in Stuttgart. Several media outlets had previously reported on it.

Mercedes has already taken important steps with its savings program to position the company for the future. In order to continue to make the necessary structural adjustments in a responsible and socially acceptable manner, the voluntary severance payment program will be revived in the indirect areas. Collective bargaining employees and, in some cases, managers also received individual offers.

The principle of double voluntariness also applies. Both the employees and the company would have to agree to leave. The car manufacturer employs 108,000 men and women in Germany.

Mercedes-Benz also wants to reduce labor costs in Germany in order to become more competitive. Mercedes production director Michael Schiebe had threatened to close two plants in Germany if costs in Germany were not reduced. Recently there had been repeated protests against the management's plans.

Things haven't been going well at Mercedes for a long time. In 2025, profits fell by almost half from 10.4 billion euros to 5.3 billion euros, after having already fallen by 28.4 percent in 2024 compared to the previous year.

Mercedes-Benz had long recorded an increase in group profits in the second quarter of this year, but the weak Chinese business dragged the passenger car division down. Mercedes' profit rose 13.5 percent in the second quarter of this year. From April to June, the consolidated result climbed from 957 million euros to around 1.09 billion euros compared to the same period last year.