Mercedes-Benz halts new investment in German plants, considers closures

The future of Mercedes-Benz's production sites in Germany is coming under increasing pressure. Because of high labour costs and stalled talks with the works council and IG Metall, the Stuttgart carmaker is taking action. The management board has decided to suspend all further investment at German sites for the time being. Possible plant closures are now also being considered in more concrete terms.Mercedes puts the brakes on spendingAs bild.de reported on Thursday, HR director Britta Seeger justified the move by pointing to the strained cost situation. The group now has to examine which locations in Germany can still be operated profitably in the long term. Mercedes wants to avoid plant closures as far as possible, she said, but this option now has to be pursued more seriously than before.The talks with employee representatives are considered deadlocked. A swift agreement is currently not in sight, Seeger explained in an internal interview that zeit.de reported on, citing the news agency Reuters. The aim remains a joint package that delivers noticeable savings while at the same time being socially acceptable.At the heart of the dispute are production costs. According to Mercedes, an hour of labour in German plants can cost up to five times as much as at sites in Eastern Europe. The management board is therefore demanding concessions on working conditions.