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Sell-off of Mercedes Dealerships: Interested Parties Also Coming from China
At the beginning of the year, Källenius announced that he would be putting 80 of the company's dealerships, with a total of 8,000 employees, to the test. If the margin is too low, a sale is considered. The company has been negotiating with employee representatives for weeks over the terms of the sale. However, IG Metall and the works council do not want to agree to this without a fight and are demanding "compensation for disadvantages" amounting to six figures for each employee.
Workers Protest for Car Dealers
Since IG Metall has many members in the factories but not in the dealerships, the union is organizing a nationwide day of protest today under the motto "We Stand Together". Wherever there are Mercedes production plants and branches — Untertürkheim, Sindelfingen, Rastatt, Bremen, Düsseldorf, and Berlin — the union wants to show strength.
Jobs in car dealerships are to be maintained – at least until 2029
In the car corporations, IG Metall is indeed a powerful factor; at Mercedes, the union enforced a ban on redundancies due to operational reasons until 2029. The management of the car company declared that the jobs in the car dealerships are also safe. Buyers of Mercedes branches are expected to make a similar job assurance as with the "colleagues on the assembly line."
Dismissal protection still lasts about five years or 60 months. The employee representatives therefore developed the specific demand "60 plus 60" as "compensation for disadvantages." Accordingly, every employee in a dealership that is sold is to receive compensation consisting of a base amount of 60,000 euros and 60 monthly salaries.
No sale to financial investors – and no sale "in one package"
Källenius emphasized that willingness to invest and entrepreneurial concept were crucial in the selection of investors. He also expected an "openness towards employee representations." A sale to financial investors is not planned, nor will there be any plant closures.
"The locations will not be handed over to a single buyer," stated Mercedes.
In Berlin alone, the automotive company operates seven branches with over 1,200 employees. Here, IG Metall is advocating for the assignment to a new owner. The union could then negotiate with an operator on the collective agreement and protection against dismissal.
“To provide the best customer experience in the age of digitalization and electromobility, we are optimizing our sales structures,” said the management in Stuttgart. “After good experiences in other European markets, we are now also examining in Germany how we can make our branches more independent. Our goal is to sell to experienced and reputable dealership groups.”
Chinese company is the largest Mercedes dealer in the world
A German subsidiary of the Lei Shing Hong (LSH) group took over 18 sales locations with around 1,400 employees in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern nine years ago. LSH is the largest Mercedes dealer in the world and is closely connected to the Stuttgart-based car manufacturer. In 2017, the Stuttgart company supported the Hong Kong-based group with a three-digit million sum and has since been represented on the supervisory board of the Chinese family-run business.
According to the Stuttgart company’s management, among the interested parties for the Mercedes branches are also Chinese car manufacturers. With competitive electric cars, Chinese manufacturers are gaining strength in the German market. What is missing is a powerful sales structure – and this could now be acquired through the brand with the star.
Translated automatically from German.
Branchenguide
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