Overview
- Production board member Michael Schiebe told employees at a Sindelfingen meeting on Monday that Mercedes may have to close one assembly plant and one powertrain plant if cost reductions at German sites are not agreed.
- Mercedes says its explicit goal is to keep all German sites but that outcome depends on negotiated cost-saving measures with the works council, including a management request to raise weekly hours from 35 to 38 without higher pay.
- Workers and IG Metall have mobilized in response, with about 20,000 people protesting in Sindelfingen and coordinated nationwide actions drawing large participation and strong union rejection of longer unpaid hours.
- Company statements did not name any specific factories; local reporting highlights Bremen (about 10,500 employees) and Hamburg (about 1,900 employees) as examples of assembly and powertrain sites that would be affected in principle but no closure decision has been made.
- Mercedes points to much lower costs at its expanded Kecskemét plant in Hungary—roughly 70 percent cheaper—cites weak China demand and higher U.S. tariffs as pressures, and is entering formal talks with employee representatives ahead of the October tariff round.