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Germany's Daimler agrees
to make batteries at Mercedes-Benz plant
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 [July 13, 2017]
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's
Daimler said on Thursday it had struck a deal with workers to make
electric car components and batteries at the Mercedes-Benz factory in
Untertuerkheim, near Stuttgart, in addition to combustion engines,
transmissions and axles.
Untertuerkheim is operating at full capacity. But the 19,000 workers at
the plant demanded assurances that jobs would be guaranteed as the auto
industry shifts to electric cars, which have fewer components than
diesel or gasoline vehicles.
Workers at Untertuerkheim went on strike this month, leading to the
cancellation of overtime shifts to make the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class
model and forcing the management into talks.
As part of the deal, Untertuerkheim will become a competence center for
integrating the electric powertrain into production, and will include a
battery production facility, in addition to battery plants in Kamenz and
Beijing.
The agreement created more than 250 new jobs in the field of electric
vehicle production, Daimler said.
Powertrain modules for electric vehicles will be assembled in
Untertuerkheim and supplied to other locations like the Mercedes-Benz
passenger car plant in Sindelfingen.
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The Mercedes museum is pictured in Stuttgart, Germany, January 31,
2017. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle
"With this further development, Untertuerkheim will continue to be the lead
plant in the global powertrain production network," Mercedes-Benz cars
production chief Markus Schaefer said.
The labor pact includes changes to the plant's shifts and flexible workforce
measures, as well as assurances that Mercedes-Benz will develop Untertuerkheim
into a competence center to test electric-drive prototypes.
"We are getting a project house in which experts from our research and
development department will develop know-how for the electric drive systems of
future EQ models,” Wolfgang Nieke, chairman of Untertuerkheim's works council,
said in a statement.
By 2025, fully electric vehicles are to account for between 15 and 25 percent of
the total unit sales of Mercedes-Benz.
(Reporting by Edward Taylor; Editing by Edmund Blair)
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