Continental AG announced on Tuesday that it intends to reduce its costs by more than one billion euros a year by 2023 and expand a restructuring program that could affect up to 30,000 jobs worldwide, Bloomberg reports.

About 90 percent of the restructuring measures will be implemented by 2025, Continental said, adding that operations in Germany will be seriously targeted, as about 13,000 jobs will be relocated or eliminated.

The auto industry is facing the biggest crisis in 70 years and component suppliers are “particularly affected,” said Continental CEO ,Elmar Degenhart. According to him, the group decided to focus on “maximum competitiveness at all locations and an emphasis on growth areas.”

In addition to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the auto industry is under pressure to invest in new technologies as the era of internal combustion engines nears its end and car-sharing services reduce the demand for new cars, according to Agerpres.

The Continental Group has already embarked on a major restructuring process last year, when the world economy slowed and car production fell. But the initial plan to restore operating margins, which aimed to eliminate 20,000 jobs worldwide, has become insufficient in the context of the coronavirus pandemic.

All 5 Continental divisions are represented in Romania. Continental has seven production units and four engineering centers in Timisoara, Sibiu, Carei, Nadab, Brasov and Iasi. At the end of 2018, Continental had over 20,000 employees in Romania, of which a third were engineers and computer scientists in research and development centers.