According to media reports, on July 10, Michael Frick, Chief Financial Officer of ZF Friedrichshafen-Germany's second-largest automotive parts supplier-told WirtschaftsWoche magazine that if global vehicle production continues to fall, ZF will implement even stricter cost-cutting measures.
"Our current performance is below expectations, and there are signs that global vehicle production will decline further in the second half of the year," Frick stated. "In that case, ZF will have to take additional cost-reduction steps," he added.
As part of an ongoing restructuring plan, ZF aims to cut up to 14,000 jobs in Germany by 2028-about 25% of its total German workforce.
ZF, which supplies transmissions and hybrid drivetrain solutions to automakers, is currently facing weak demand and mounting costs associated with the industry's shift toward electric vehicles (EVs). The company is also struggling with declining sales and profits.
According to Automotive News' June 23 release of the 2025 Top 100 Global OEM Parts Suppliers list, ZF ranked 4th-down two places from the previous year-due to a $5.6 billion drop in automotive-related sales in 2024 compared to 2023.
In its 2024 financial results presentation, ZF noted: "The rollout of electric vehicles has clearly slowed, and automakers have revised their electrification strategies and delayed EV product launches. As a result, the number of ordered EV platforms fell short of expectations, leading to overcapacity in our EV-related component production." The company had previously forecast in December 2023 that EVs would account for 55% of global car sales by 2031, but that projection has since been lowered to 39%.
Notably, in addition to declining market demand and the challenges of transitioning to electric mobility, the European automotive industry is currently facing multiple pressures-including tariffs, high production costs, and fierce competition from Chinese rivals.
