Mercedes-Benz threatened to close a plant in Germany and relocate production
a month ago by schizoidman to c/europe
Mercedes-Benz management warned that it plans to close one of its plants in Germany and move production to Eastern Europe if employees do not agree to cost-cutting measures. Wirtschaftswoche reports this, citing company sources, with UNN reporting, citing Bild.
According to the publication, management is demanding that employees give up some benefits, including vacation pay and Christmas bonuses, as well as reconsider the 35-hour workweek. Management believes that current conditions are making German plants less competitive amid
Blaming management when the truth is the car industry has been in an almost perfect storm for almost a decade.
- Global Chip shortage ( Disruption of supply chain, decreasing sales due to slowed production )
- Covid ( Hurting sales and production )
- Energy crisis in Europe imposed by Russia before they invaded Ukraine ( Increasing production cost )
- Increased competition from China ( lowering sales and profits )
- Brexit ( Disrupting supply chains, and decreasing sales to UK )
- Transition to EV ( Increasing cost of R&D and production due to more models makes production more expensive )
- Sanctions against Russia ( Loss of market and the value of investments in supplying the country )
- US Tariffs ( Preventing sales to USA )
- War in Iran ( Disrupting the economy and economic outlook, lowering car sales globally )
All these issues have direct impact on all European car brands, VW is making EU best selling EV cars, and they too have problems.
But yes the management for the car brand that makes the most energy efficient EV is incompetent.
They sold their soul in China for short term profit.
They never had a long term plan, they just saw the profit they were making in China, given away their technology advantage.
So this is solely the management to be blamed for. During Covid they were making record profits, due to the state paying the employees.
I worked 5 years for Mercedes and over 10 years in German car industry. They always kept laughing at Tesla and Chinese cheap EVs, now look were they are. No one wants the Mercedes expensive EVs...
They sold their soul in China for short term profit.
Exactly what did they sell out? Exactly what technology did China "steal" from Mercedes?
Car manufacturing has been a global business for more than half a century. Should they just ignore a major emerging market?
During Covid they were making record profits,
Yes the Chip shortage had the effect that car prices increased, making each car more profitable to sell.
But the after effect was a near recession and inflation where profits and sales fell back. Only helped partially and regionally subsidizing EV sales.
They always kept laughing at Tesla and Chinese cheap EVs.
Doesn't change the fact that Mercedes today make the best electric cars on the market without comparison. So they must have done a heck of a lot more than just laughing.
No one wants the Mercedes expensive EVs…
That's an absolutely moronic claim, A Mercedes CLA is not much more expensive than a VW ID.4 here.
But yes compare to a Fiat 500 Mercedes is expensive, but that doesn't mean they don't have good value.
No one wants the Mercedes expensive EVs…
That graph doesn't say much about profits, but lists like this one did look very different 10-20 years ago. I'm no expert on the topic, but I have no reason to believe Europe couldn't have done what China did. It's not just because Chinese labour is cheaper that they sell so many cars. I don't know enough to blame it on the management but I do have a feeling they could have done better. Also not a single new European brand selling enough to get on this list. I don't know enough to blame it on politicians, but I also have a feeling they could have done better. I don't mind China "winning", but I sure am disappointed to see EU "losing" this market. Especially Germany is getting some serious hits.
Edit: uploaded the image because it didn't want to be embedded.
Exactly what did they sell out? Exactly what technology did China "steal" from Mercedes?
Car manufacturing has been a global business for more than half a century. Should they just ignore a major emerging market?
To get a car certified to be sold in China, you need to get a certification, where you need to provide all technical plans and documents for them to be certified. Most of the time a year later there would be a quite similar looking car from a Chinese brand. Collected data about the car and customer is stored on Chinese servers, where the government has access to.
So I am pretty sure they would never give any of that data to their own manufacturing companies...
Of course they should sell their cars there, but they should have also prepared for what will happen in the long term. They kept selling petrol cars, because they were are the most profitable cars.
Yes the Chip shortage had the effect that car prices increased, making each car more profitable to sell.
But the after effect was a near recession and inflation where profits and sales fell back. Only helped partially and regionally subsidizing EV sales.
Their sales of petrol cars gone down in China the last few years and this is where they make the most profits.
Doesn't change the fact that Mercedes today make the best electric cars on the market without comparison. So they must have done a heck of a lot more than just laughing.
If they make the best cars, why no one wants them? The sales figures don't show it. Teslas are expensive still sell a lot higher volume.
Don't get me wrong, I would hope they do better, as I hate Musk and his Swasticars. I am from Germany and would like our economy doing well, but they should take their fair share, why we are in this situation today.
The management of the German car makers made a bunch of bad decisions and now the employees have to take the burden.
For example an S-class brings about 8000€ of profits, EVs are no way near that. And they sold most of their most profitable cars in China. Now this has gone back a lot and they are missing this income.
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