Audi to Pay Workers Hefty Bonus for 2008, BMW and Mercedes-Benz Say Nein

Among the three premium German automakers, the only company that will share part of its 2008 profits with workers is Audi as BMW and Mercedes-Benz's parent company Daimler decided not to pay a profit-sharing bonus for 2008. Audi AG will hand out €157 million from last year's record operating profit of €2.77 billion (+2.5% compared to 2007) to around 43,000 of its qualifying employees in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm. That comes to an average of €3,651 or about $5,100 US for each employee that will receive the bonus by the end of May.

According to a report from Autonews, due to the fact that Daimler is facing the need to cut labor costs, the firm's management and union took the decision to withhold the €224.2 million euro profit-sharing bonus that it had planned to pay out to workers. The company has yet to decided what it will do with the money.