The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
Wholesale / Retail 47 - Retail trade 47.8 - Retail sale of motor vehicles, motorcycles and related parts and accessories 47.81 - Retail sale of motor vehicles
310 jobs Number of planned job losses
Announcement Date
7 December 2025
Employment effect (start)
30 November 2025
Foreseen end date
30 November 2025
Description
The German chain of car dealerships Preckel Automobile has filed for insolvency. The three sites Düsseldorf, Solingen, and Heilighausen (North Rhine-Westphalia) were closed as of 30 November 2025, resulting in the immediate loss of 310 jobs.
The company attributes the insolvency to years of stagnation in Germany’s new-car market and says it will now evaluate restructuring options to secure its business in the long term.
Operations will continue at the remaining branches in Krefeld, Mönchengladbach and Geldern (North Rhine-Westphalia) with 190 employees. For now, their wages are covered for three months by statutory insolvency pay. It is currently unclear whether they will also loose their position at the end of the three months. Ultimately, the company is seeking new investors to finance the restructuring of the business to reestablish long-term operational sustainability.
Eurofound (2025), Preckel Automobile, Bankruptcy in Germany, factsheet number 203822, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/203822.
Digitisation and automation technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), can affect working conditions in a variety of ways and their use in the workplace raises a host of new ethical concerns.
The retail banking sector is fertile ground for studying the impacts of digitalisation on work and employment. Financial services are increasingly provided online, without the intermediary of customer-facing institutions.
European labour markets have recovered strongly from COVID-19. By the end of 2021, little more than 18 months after the start of the pandemic, employment rates in the EU were almost at pre-crisis levels.
