Leading German car-makers announce factory cutbacks

MANUFACTURING: THE FINANCIAL crisis began to bite at Germany’s leading car-makers yesterday, with Opel, BMW and Ford all announcing cutbacks at factories employing more than 6,500 workers.

Opel, a subsidiary of General Motors (GM), announced a three-week stoppage yesterday at its factories in Eisenach and Bochum, cutting total production this year by more than 40,000 cars.

Some 5,000 workers in Bochum producing the Astra and Zafira models have been temporarily laid off, while another 1,800 employees at the plant in Eisenach producing the Opel Corsa will follow next week.

Only production of the new Insignia model is not affected by the temporary stoppages.

Andreas Krömer, spokesman for Opel, said the financial crisis was starting to bite.

“People are holding on to their money and not ordering cars,” he said.

Union leaders at Opel reacted angrily yesterday, saying they were not informed in advance of the stoppages and would start legal proceedings.

Soon after a spokesman for Ford announced it would lay off 204 part-time workers but would not discuss the scale of the reduction in production.

Meanwhile, Daimler will halt production at its largest German factory from December 17th, recommencing in the new year.

“Our general goal is to keep vehicle levels low,” said Daimler spokesman Florian Martens.

BMW announced a four-day production stoppage at its Leipzig plant at the end of the month, producing 2,800 fewer cars.

The only car manufacturer not to announce a drop in production was Volkswagen.

“We’re watching market developments very closely,” a spokesman said. “We have considerable flexible possibilities to make the necessary adjustments in production.”

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times