Labour had become too expensive in Germany by international standards, Brudermüller said. “We no longer have a productivity advantage over key competitors,” he said.

“There are two levers: Either you cut salaries or people work longer for the same salary,” said the former chief executive of chemicals group BASF. The former option was not reasonable in practice, he said.

I mean, open or expand facilities in another country.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_Group#Locations

Currently you have:

Germany: Affalterbach, Berlin, Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Kölleda, Ludwigsfelde, Rastatt, Sindelfingen, and Stuttgart

China: Beijing, Fuzhou

India: Bengaluru, Pune

Indonesia: Bogor

Argentina: Buenos Aires

US: Charleston, South Carolina; Vance, Alabama

South Africa: East London

Brazil: Juiz de Fora, Sao Berenardo do Campo

Hungary: Kecskemét

Malaysia: Pekan

Thailand: Samut Prakan

Spain: Vitoria-Gasteiz

If whatever it is doesn’t have constraints, then put it wherever you want. If it needs to be in the EU, then you already do Hungary and Spain besides Germany. If the people are capable of doing the work you need done and the going rate is lower, then makes sense to have it done there. If they aren’t capable, then, well, the statement that the existing wages in Germany are uncompetitive internationally doesn’t stand up.

EDIT:

https://ecipe.org/insights/germanys-industry-isnt-in-decline-its-changing/

Germany’s Industry Isn’t in Decline, It’s Changing

Germany’s industry is in turmoil. Last year’s headlines about mass layoffs by German industrial giants like Volkswagen, Thyssenkrupp, BASF, and Continental were striking—but hardly surprising.

Experts offer numerous reasons for the root causes of Germany’s economic problems, ranging from increased energy prices and high labour costs to the country’s political culture and excessive bureaucracy. Yet the underlying forces of the Germany economy point to another unavoidable conclusion: downsizing the industrial labour force is, in the end, inevitable.

Economics, often misunderstood, operates under its own immutable laws. One of them asserts that as countries grow richer, they initially add more industrial jobs to the economy. But, after reaching a tipping point, they begin shedding factory jobs. Instead, economies create more intangible and services work, ranging from diligent engineers to smart consultants.

Germany is no exception. Its glory days of manufacturing jobs growth are long behind it, having peaked already in the 1980s. Since then, the share of industrial work has steadily declined, dropping from 40% in 1990 to just 27% today (left panel). Over that same period, a rapidly growing share of jobs in Germany has shifted to services.

For a long time, however, many thought of Germany being an exception from that law. After all, it was able to continue its industry dependency and consistently maintained a higher manufacturing share than France, another European industrial heavyweight. Germany also managed to slow its decline: while manufacturing jobs in other Eurozone countries continued to plummet, Germany’s post-Global Financial Crisis drop was only half as steep as the Eurozone as a whole. In fact, Germany still holds a strong comparative advantage in manufacturing.

However, Germany is just like every other country. Like all countries around the world, service jobs will inevitably start to outpace factory jobs in Germany. Even China, the world’s factory floor, won’t escape this tipping point. Since 2013, and despite the country’s manufacturing rebound, its industrial share in the economy has actually begun to decline (although its employment not yet)—a fate mirrored across the entire globe.