Yet another Hacker News

Mercedes-Benz to halt 'all future investments' in Germany

33 points muse900 32 minutes ago 20 comments

msandford 9 minutes ago | parent

Article is pay walled but if the headline is true that's tragic. I wonder if they're going to invest elsewhere or just admit defeat and slowly wind down the business.

I can't help but think this was influenced somewhat by the shutdown of Germany's nuclear reactors thus making energy more expensive and all the knock on effects.

pmarreck 8 minutes ago | parent

This is news to me. Can anyone provide context? Have MB sales gone down?

odyssey7 5 minutes ago | parent

Oh, I had forgotten I had an active FT subscription with everything else going on in the world.

> Mercedes-Benz has decided to halt “all further investments” in Germany and warned that plant closures were now an option, marking an escalation of its stand-off with unions in a bid to reduce labour costs.

> The German premium carmaker has called for longer working hours without extra pay to boost productivity but has failed to reach a deal with its works council despite four months of negotiations.

> In an interview with board members published on the company’s intranet on Thursday, its production head Michael Schiebe said “the current cost structures do not allow us to invest in Germany”.

roycomputer 7 minutes ago | parent

http://archive.today/fcp4U

WarmWash 5 minutes ago | parent

Obviously the smartest course of action here would be to fine MB and levy a new tax on them to ensure future state revenue.

whiplash451 4 minutes ago | parent

If you f*ck up your strategy for long enough, you can tank an entire company.

Thank you MB for reminding this to the world.

doughnutstracks 3 minutes ago | parent

Alternative non-paywall

https://www.dw.com/en/mercedes-benz-germany-investment/a-799...