Workers wearing protective face masks affix parts to the underside of an automobile on the assembly line inside the Mercedes-Benz AG automobile plant, operated by Daimler AG, in Kecskemet, Hungary, on Thursday, May 7, 2020. Hungarys monetary authority is sticking to its projection for a 2%-3% increase in gross domestic product even as the government, bank analysts and foreign institutions expect a deep contraction due to the coronavirus pandemic. 
A Daimler spokesman declined to comment on speculation. Manager Magazin reported earlier Wednesday that Daimler might cut as many as 30,000 jobs. The Stuttgart, Germany-based company has almost 300,000 employees worldwide.
Daimler will give a clearer picture of its earnings performance Thursday, a week after reporting a preliminary second-quarter loss of 1.68 billion euros before interest and taxes. A recovery in vehicle demand late in the second quarter spared the company from losing as much money as analysts were expecting, sending shares climbing to the highest in more than a month.
“The outlook and depth of restructuring will be of equal interest to investors,” Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Michael Dean and Gillian Davis wrote in a July 17 report looking ahead to Daimler’s full results.
Chief Executive Officer Ola Kallenius said during Daimler’s annual general meeting earlier this month the carmaker must sharpen its expense-cutting efforts to shore up returns. The company is reviewing its global manufacturing network to get rid of excess capacity, which may lead to the sale of a factory in France. It has already halted plans to expand a site in Hungary.