ASK employees at the Bavarian Motor Works in Munich about manufacturing costs, and they become defensive and defiant,
though still polite. Siegmund Engel, 35, who puts together 3-series BMWs, is typical: " People say that costs are too high. It's
truethat other countries are cheaper. That is bad news for us. But I think our costs here are..." (he pauses) "... appropriate."
Siegmund says he cannot imagine getting less than the basic pounds 500 a week he now earns. His opposite numbers at Rover
in Longbridge would no doubt be pleased to trade places. Siegmund himself readily admits that BMW, in common with the rest
of theGerman economy, is not run on the cheap.
According to BMW, all but a few per cent of its workers earn more than DM60,000 (pounds 27,000) a year - in Longbridge
the average is pounds 16,000. The BMW workers enjoy a holiday entitlement which starts at six weeks a year (five weeks at
Longbridge),and goes up from there. Plus there are the standard public holidays, which Catholic Bavaria is especially keen on -
12 or 14 a year depending on how you count them (Britain has eight).
Then there is Urlaubsgeld, or "holiday money" - approximately an extra month's pay, towards the summer break in Majorca or
Miami. And Weihnachtsgeld, or "Christmas money" - the same again, for presents all round. Those two bonuses have long
beenstandard across Germany. In addition, BMW workers get a further, 15th month's, salary as part of a profit-sharing
scheme. On top of that, there are generous health insurance and pension payments. Bernd Pischetsrieder, chairman of BMW,
reckons overallGerman wage costs to be about twice those in Britain.
It is scarcely surprising that high manufacturing costs have become the topic of economic debate in Germany today. In almost
every respect the economy seems to defy the laws of gravity. On wages, think of a number and double it. On prices, think of
anumber and double it (and then...