Coindu makes 50% of staff redundant in two years

Coindu, a Portuguese company that has produced upholstery for the automotive industry in Arcos de Valdevez near Viana do Castelo (now closed) and Joana near Vila Nova de Famalicão (Braga) has made 50% of its workforce redundant over two years.

The company, which supplies Tesla, Audi and BMW, admitted that a restructuring plan in 2023 did not achieve the desired effects.

According to the news source Público, the company will begin its forth round of collective redundancies in 18 months after having maintained hundreds of works on lay-off for four months.

At the end of 2022, the company, which was established in 1988 in the north of the country, had 2,100 employees. Now, it has 1,171. But the administration warns that, due to the poor prospects for business development (due to a lack of orders), it may only need 800-820 this year. This means that the number of employees in the company may decrease further, to a range of 950-1050 from 2026 onwards.

In recent months it sold a factory in Romania to an Italian company and closed its factory in Arcos de Valdevez with 358 people losing their jobs.

The company produces seat covers and upholstery in leather, PVC, and textiles while its main clients are Audi, BMW, Mini, Tesla and Rivian.

The European new car market has declined significantly since 2020, with a notable decrease in registrations. While the market saw some growth in 2024, it has shrunk by almost 2.9 million units since the pandemic in 2020.