Mercedes-Benz Shares Skid to Fresh 52-Week Low as Union Standoff Over German Costs Escalates
Published on 09/29/2026 at 19:20 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Mercedes-Benz is fighting a two-front battle that has investors on edge. On the shop floor, management and labor representatives are locked in an increasingly bitter dispute over pay and working hours. In the showroom and on the drawing board, the Stuttgart automaker is pressing ahead with new commercial-vehicle solutions and long-range technology partnerships. The stock is paying the price for the former.
The shares shed 2.1% on the day to change hands at EUR 40.72, hovering just above a newly struck 52-week low of EUR 40.14. Measured from the start of the year, the decline now amounts to 32%.
Management Turns Up the Heat on the Workforce
The flashpoint is the company's home-market cost base. At a works meeting held yesterday, the executive board reiterated its demand for far-reaching concessions from employees, with labor leaders and management appearing side by side before staff as the conflict over future cost structures intensifies.
Longer working hours at unchanged pay sit at the heart of the company's demands. According to Handelsblatt, deputy group works council chief Michael Häberle cited a 38-hour week at constant salary, along with cuts to special payments, among the points management is pursuing. The board is also eyeing a further reduction of production capacity at the German sites over time.
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Should the targeted savings fail to materialize, management has warned that two domestic plants could be shuttered — an assembly facility and a powertrain site. Production chief Michael Schiebe had already signaled as much a few days earlier. The group works council responded swiftly, vowing vigorous resistance to any such plans.
A Cost Target the Company Won't Confirm
How much money is actually at stake remains a matter of dispute. WirtschaftsWoche, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that the automaker aims to trim German labor costs by EUR 800 million. Reuters, quoting three sources close to the situation, said a range of levers is under discussion, including longer hours without extra pay and adjustments to — or the outright elimination of — bonus payments.
Mercedes-Benz declined to confirm the EUR 800 million figure to SWR, pointing instead to ongoing negotiations. The gap between the reported target and the company's silence underscores just how sensitive the talks have become.
Technology Bets and a Van Debut Run in Parallel
Even as the restructuring debate dominates the headlines, Mercedes-Benz is not standing still on product and technology. The company has struck a partnership with Wayve to integrate the British firm's autonomous driving system into future vehicles bearing the three-pointed star. Reuters reports the system is slated to launch within the next two years.
The van division, meanwhile, is keeping its commercial customers in view. At the Rolling Pin Convention 2026 in Düsseldorf, Mercedes-Benz Vans rolled out transporters fitted with specialized fresh-food bodies and conversions. Among the exhibits was a fully electric eSprinter equipped with refrigeration upfitting from Kerstner GmbH — a pitch to business clients for tailored, emissions-free freight hauling even as the broader cost battle rages at home.
The outcome of the negotiations with the workforce is likely to set the tone for the stock in the near term.
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