Daimler will put up to 18,500 Mercedes-Benz workers in Germany on short-time work due to a global shortage of chips.
The company's plants in Bremen and Rastatt will be affected, the company said on Wednesday.
"Currently, there is a worldwide supply shortage of certain semiconductor components," said a spokeswoman. "We continue to play things by ear. The situation is volatile, so it is not possible to make a forecast about the impact," she said.
The move will interrupt production at the factories but allow employees working on special projects to continue. It will take effect starting on April 23 for one week, initially.
The factory in Bremen, which has 12,000 workers, is the global lead production location for the Mercedes C-Class, the automaker's best-selling model, and also the main production plant for the GLC crossover. The factory also builds the EQC full-electric crossover.
About 6,500 workers are employed at the Rastatt plant, which is the global lead plant for compact cars including the A-Class, B-Class and GLA.
