Comment by CGMthrowaway | Hacker News Reader

Comment by CGMthrowaway | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

This is on the heels of VW also pulling out of Germany (as of just two days ago). VW is scrapping their biggest plant in Dresden and also shifting manufacturing to Eastern Europe and out of Germany for four other plants. German automakers can not longer remain competitive, for a few reasons.

Part of this is due to declining sales in China (driven by competitive domestic EVs there), and a large part is due to the political and regulatory envornoment in the EU/Germany: these automakers are being forced to electrify as ICE vehicles are banned as of 2035, cost of labor in Germany in 4-5x what it is in eastern europe[1], electricity and gas prices (for manufacturing) are through the roof, and VW itself is 20% controlled by the state and being hamstrung by that a bit as well.

[1]MB head of production: "The cost of one hour of labour in production in Germany is in some cases up to five times higher than at locations in Eastern Europe." VW cost of labor per vehicle: 4,850eur in Emden plant vs 1,078eur in Tianjin plant. Sources https://www.electrive.com/2026/11/13/mercedes-board-threaten... https://x.com/stats_feed/status/2109219150157471938

> cost of labor in Germany in 4-5x what it is in eastern europe

Is that really true ? I would say maybe 2x but 4-5x - where are wages that low in Europe anymore ?

(Assuming those numbers are roughly correct) there are probably multiple factors that contribute to the overall delta, possibly including: holiday, sick leave, and maternity leave entitlement, time spent on non-core activities like union or workers rights matters, employer contributions to health insurance, limitations on hours and/or overtime, various taxes, meeting culture, general work culture, etc.

There a line of thinking in Germany that the country worked hard to build itself up post-WW2 and it should now be able to enjoy the rewards. Unfortunately the rest of the world moved on, and all of Germany’s excellent and hard-won prosperity and rights make it less competitive globally.

I provided sources, the company itself and two different German journalists. If you find another source lmk

Those sources are comparing to China. You're not getting labor that cheap anywhere in EU.

I'm afraid you're mistaken, please read again more carefully. The first link I gave has this quote from Michael Schiebe, the MB board member and head of production:

>“The cost of one hour of labour in production in Germany is in some cases up to five times higher than at locations in Eastern Europe.” Pointing to the USA, he said even costs in this high-wage location are significantly lower than in Germany.

VW has famously ridiculous wages

Reply on news.ycombinator.com