Currently reading: Mercedes halts investment in German plants and mulls closures

Company says building in Germany costs up to five times more than in some eastern European plants

Mercedes-Benz has suspended investment in its German plants and begun examining which sites it can afford to keep open, after talks with unions over working hours and pay failed to produce a deal.

The decision was confirmed in an internal interview published on Mercedes-Benz’s intranet, in which production chief Michael Schiebe said the board had "jointly decided to stop all further investments in the German locations".