At the shift change at 2 p.m., the bad news came: At a staff meeting, the management of Mahle in Mattighofen informed the workforce that they wanted to close the plant by the end of 2024 and instead wanted to produce in Krotoszyn in Poland in the future. “The decision was made last week. Unfortunately, the location is no longer competitive under the current market conditions,” says Corinna Malej, Head of Human Resources at Mahle in Austria.
When asked by OÖN, she named the mobility turnaround and the resulting decline in sales of vehicles with combustion engines as the main reason. In the Innviertel region, Mahle specializes in the production of oil-water heat exchangers for diesel and petrol cars. Customers include, for example, Volkswagen and BMW.
Because production has declined in recent years and the market is consolidating, price competition is increasing, especially in Austria. In addition to Mattighofen, the automotive supplier also has locations in Vöcklabruck and Sankt Michael ob Bleiburg. These are not affected, says Malej. In total there are around 1900 employees in Austria, Mahle has 71,000 employees worldwide and has a turnover of around eleven billion euros. Mahle makes 60 percent of its sales independent of passenger car combustion engines, and this share is set to rise to 75 percent by 2030.
For the 120 employees in Mattighofen there should be “solutions that are as socially acceptable as possible”, according to Malej. Negotiations with the social partners should start soon. Mahle has been operating the plant in Mattighofen for 13 years. Back then, in 2009, the German group bought the car division of the supplier KTM Kühler from the leading company KTM.
