Mercedes-Benz halts investment at German sites, weighs closures

Mercedes-Benz announced on Thursday that it is halting all further investment at its German sites for the time being, with chief production officer Michael Schiebe saying in an internal memo seen by Agence France-Presse that the executive board had jointly decided the halt and that current German cost structures make investment impossible, with labour costs sometimes five times higher than at plants in Eastern Europe. The company is also weighing plant closures, and board member Britta Seeger said Mercedes must examine in detail which German sites it can still afford to maintain, after Schiebe had recently warned that two plants would have to close unless costs fell. Deutsche Welle set the decision against weaker demand in China, where Mercedes sales fell about 19 percent in 2025, slower electric vehicle demand in Europe and North America, competition from cheaper Chinese electric vehicles, and United States tariffs that cost the company about one billion euros in profit last year.