Dear 001,
This story is floating around the net...
DaimlerChrysler aims to cut 10,000 jobs at its luxury car unit Mercedes-Benz after consultancy McKinsey said it was neccessary due to slow sales of the E and S class models.
Citing company sources, that some of the job cuts could come at Mercedes' factory at Sindelfingen in Germany where the E and S Class are assembled.
The report on possible job losses comes less than two months after DaimlerChrysler decided in late April not to give the top job at Mercedes to Wolfgang Bernhard, a move insiders said was prompted by fears of drastic cost cuts.
The Sindelfingen site makes Mercedes' E and S Class cars and the ultra-luxury Maybach, the paper said.
Die Welt newspaper said McKinsey Consulting AG, which was appointed two years ago, had said Mercedes had ten percent more staff than required.
A Daimler spokesman reached by Reuters declined to comment on the reported McKinsey study and would only say that the unit would work to improve efficiency.
"The Mercedes car group is continually working to improve its efficiency to maintain its top position in the luxury passenger car business," he said.
Sales at Mercedes-Benz fell 9.2 percent in May, though its compact "smart" cars took up some of the slack. Overall sales at the Mercedes Car Group, which include Mercedes-Benz, the "smart" range and the Maybach, fell 5.8 percent.