German carmaker BMW (BMW.DE) reportedly will lay off 10,000 contract workers as it looks to decrease its vehicle production capacity because of the coronavirus pandemic.

BMW shut down its production plants in March at the height of the coronavirus. The automaker also put some of its 126,000 global employees on shortened hours.

The news of the contract worker layoffs, which was first reported by Reuters, comes as BMW looks to trim 6,000 jobs in Germany as part of a cost-cutting measure to help it recover from low new vehicle demand during the coronavirus, German news outlet Handelsblatt reported.

The workforce reduction will be achieved through a mixture of redundancies, early retirements, and by not extending temporary contracts as well as not filling position vacancies, the news outlet said.

BMW has reportedly not laid-off workers since 2008.

BMW stock was trading at $57.07 per share at 10:41 a.m. EDT, down $0.04 from 0.07%.

A BMW automobile logo is pictured January 9, 2020 in Brussels; The European Commission has accused BMW, Volkswagen and Daimler of avoiding competition with each other on technologies that reduce harmful emissions
A BMW automobile logo is pictured January 9, 2020 in Brussels; The European Commission has accused BMW, Volkswagen and Daimler of avoiding competition with each other on technologies that reduce harmful emissions AFP / Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD
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