Automakers Warning of Job Cuts

As long as the political direction the country will take remains unclear, German automakers say they will be forced into restructuring plans that could lead to lower costs, but also lost jobs. "The pressure to adjust will increase the longer the coalition formation takes," said Bernd Gottschalk, the president of VDA, the German automobile association. The VDA had hoped candidate Angela Merkel and her conservatives would win enough votes to be able to form a coalition with the pro-business Free Democratic Party, which planned to radically alter Germany's postwar economic system. After the conservatives' disappointing result, it is unclear what kind of coalition will for the next government in Germany.