Reports in Scotland’s press have revealed that up to 45 jobs could be axed at Mahle Engine Systems in Kilmarnock, which currently has about 180 employees and makes components for motor-sport engines, combustion engines and electric vehicles.

Mahle told the Kilmarnock Standard that the company had identified an “overcapacity of around 45 jobs” and consultations started at the end of September. Job losses are expected to begin by the end of October and continue into the New Year.

Paul Bennett, Unite’s regional industrial officer, said: “The announcement by Mahle Engine Systems that around a quarter of the jobs are to go at its Kilmarnock plant is a hammer blow. Unite has been in ongoing talks with Mahle to prevent compulsory redundancies after the parent company said that it was cutting around 3,700 jobs in Europe.”

The German-owned company announced in mid-September that it was planning to reduce its workforce by 7,600 people in response to the industry collapse caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Europe accounts for around 3,700 of the job losses, of which 2,000 are in Germany and the rest across Europe. Mahle has cited a global weakening of passenger car and truck sales with vehicle markets not expected to recover for some years as the primary cause for the job cuts.