DaimlerChrysler cuts 8500 jobs at Mercedes

DaimlerChrysler on Wednesday offered staff at its premium Mercedes Car Group division voluntary redundancy packages that aim to cut 8,500 jobs in Germany over 12 months. The Mercedes division employed around 105,000 staff at the end of last year, of which some 94,000 were in Germany.

The jobs move underscores German carmakers' attempts to cut manufacturing costs and boost profitability while paying the highest labor costs in the global auto industry. Mercedes profits have collapsed this year due to model changeovers, the strong euro, hefty losses at minicar brand Smart and spending to fix quality problems at crown jewel Mercedes-Benz.

- Now that is news indeed. American carmakers being in trouble, we can understand why ("trucks, SUV's & gas prices"), but Mercedes? What happened there? A quick search turns up the following :

In the past 12 months, the automaker has had three CEOs ... the situation deteriorated when Mercedes reported a $1.2 billion loss in the first quarter - and only $15 million in profits during the second. The automaker has been struggling to improve vehicle reliability and announced its largest ever recall - 1.3 million vehicles - in April.

(2005-09-29 00:31:12 SGT) [Biz] Permalink

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