Premium German carmaker Mercedes-Benz will restart a voluntary redundancy programme and is in talks with unions over further cost cuts, CEO Ola Kaellenius said Wednesday after the firm warned on full-year profits.

“Germany accounts for roughly 15 percent of our sales, but two-thirds of our employees and structures are based here,” Kaellenius told reporters and investors on an earnings call presenting third-quarter results. “To reduce our fixed costs further, we have decided to restart the severance programme in Germany in December,” he added, without specifying a target number of job cuts.

German carmakers have struggled with cutthroat competition and falling demand in China, the world’s largest car market, forcing painful adjustments at home. Mercedes-Benz on Tuesday became the third of Germany’s big three carmakers—alongside Volkswagen and BMW—to issue a profit warning for the year, citing difficulties in China.

BMW aims to cut 8,000 jobs by the end of 2027 through its own voluntary redundancy programme, while the Volkswagen Group plans to have cut 120,000 jobs globally by the end of the decade across brands including Porsche and Audi.

Kaellenius said Mercedes could not give further detail since discussions were ongoing, but that he was pressing hard to bring costs down. “We will continue with determination to adjust the structures of the company to fit the revenue position of the company,” he said.

Labour costs in China, Hungary, Romania and the United States are all lower than in Germany, Kaellenius noted, adding that “eastern Europe as a whole is open to any industrialist looking to expand.”

Net profit for the third quarter rose almost 30 percent to €1.52 billion ($1.69 billion), even as overall sales declined 4.5 percent to €30.7 billion, largely due to a collapse in China. Nevertheless, Kaellenius said the company could not afford to abandon the Chinese market despite an intense price war driven by more than 100 competing carmakers. “If you’re a global car company like Mercedes, there’s not a play where you put China aside,” he said.