According to Sina Tech, BMW Brilliance initiated layoffs beginning November 2, with this round affecting approximately 1,800 employees—roughly 10% of its total workforce.

The report indicates that this round of layoffs primarily targets frontline production workers while also including office and management staff. All affected employees will receive N+5 compensation, where "N" is calculated based on pre-tax monthly salary and "5" is based on base salary (excluding performance pay and similar items).

In addition, before securing new employment, laid-off employees are also entitled to unemployment benefits in accordance with the law for up to two years.

As of now, BMW Brilliance has not yet responded.

BMW Brilliance is a joint venture established in 2003 by the BMW Group and Brilliance Group, primarily producing BMW-branded models in Shenyang. At its peak in 2023, deliveries reached as high as 710,000 vehicles. However, China's automotive industry landscape has continued to undergo profound adjustments in recent years, and the wave of electrification transformation has continually reshaped the market, causing BMW's sales in China to keep declining.

In the first three quarters of 2026, BMW delivered 376,128 vehicles in the Chinese market, down 21.8% year-on-year; in the third quarter alone, deliveries totaled 114,355 vehicles, with the year-on-year decline widening to 24.8%. China has become the weakest-performing region among BMW's major global markets.

Globally, due to sales and financial pressure, the BMW Group had already launched a global layoff and cost-reduction plan. In July this year, according to German media reports, BMW reached an agreement with its works council to cut approximately 8,000 positions worldwide by the end of 2027, mainly in R&D and functional departments, starting in October through a voluntary departure program and continuing until the end of next year.

BMW Brilliance's N+5 plan is noticeably more generous than the statutory N+1 baseline and also higher than the N+2+1 level used in previous layoffs at Dongfeng Honda. To some extent, it can be seen as a relatively dignified exit arrangement within the joint venture system in China.

From an industry perspective, in recent years many joint venture automakers in China have been offsetting the operational challenges brought by market fluctuations through lean organizational management and optimized production capacity allocation. For example, since 2026, GAC Honda's Huangpu plant has halted production, Dongfeng Honda's Wuhan plant is slated for closure, SAIC Volkswagen's Nanjing plant has been shut down, and Dongfeng Nissan's Wuhan plant has changed hands.