(Reuters) -German car parts supplier Continental’s ContiTech division is to close four plants and downsize two others, affecting a total of 580 employees, the company said on Thursday.
The group has been eyeing more than 7,000 job cuts under a restructuring plan that it has been working on for over a year, aiming to save 400 million euros ($417 million) a year from 2025.
ContiTech plans to close its plants in Bad Blankenburg, Stolzenau and Moers, as well as the combined sites in Frohburg and Geithain, all in Germany.
Production at its Hannover-Vahrenwald plant is also expected to end in the first half of 2026 and be transferred to the Czech Republic, while activities at a site in Hamburg are to be scaled down, the company said.
Automotive companies across Europe have announced plant closures and big layoffs as they struggle with weak demand, high costs, competition from China and a slower than expected transition to electric vehicles.
“Developments in the automotive industry and in lignite mining in Europe are presenting us with challenges,” said Philip Nelles, a member of Continental’s executive board and head of the ContiTech division.
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(Reporting by Tristan Veyet in Gdansk. Editing by Friederike Heine and Mark Potter)
