BERLIN, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- The effects of the global financial crisis have hit the German automobile industry.
Several German car giants, including Mercedes, Daimler and Opel, which belongs to Volkswagen, have announced they will temporarily stop producing cars.
Opel said Tuesday it will stop work at most of its European factories for two to three weeks, and BMW said it would halt assembly lines in its Leipzig plant during the final week of October. Car companies cited a slump in car sales for the move. Observers said people currently are holding off making larger purchases.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a speech before Parliament on Tuesday said the situation was grave, but added that Germany was well prepared to withstand the crisis.
Merkel earlier this week gave her green light to the $68 billion bailout of Germany's fourth-largest bank, the mortgage lender Hypo Real Estate, and also gave a federal guarantee for all private bank savings.
Several top German bankers have been fired or urged to step down because of the financial crisis.
Stock markets all over Europe on Wednesday continued to fall, with Germany's DAX index losing roughly 6 percent.
