BMW, Mercedes plan to keep Christmas break short

The factories of carmakers BMW and Mercedes-Benz will keep customary shutdowns around the Christmas holidays to a minimum this year to catch up with pent-up demand for vehicles.

Demand in China and North America has pushed vehicle sales of premium cars to record levels, but recent comments by automakers have painted an increasingly gloomy picture of the industry's prospects over the coming months.

The potential downturn does not appear to have caught up with Germany's premium carmakers, which are still busy filling orders logged over the summer.

A BMW spokesman said most of the luxury carmaker's plants will close down for only one week at Christmas, including its factories in Munich and nearby Regensburg, which make the next generation 3-Series, due to hit the market in February.

Its US plant in Spartanburg will also stop production for only one week to catch up with orders for its X-Series sport utility vehicles.

"We have a great utilisation rate right now. It is at significantly more than 110 percent," BMW production head Frank-Peter Arndt said.

Even if there was a downturn in demand, Arndt said, the company could quickly cut production by cutting down on temporary staff and asking workers to use up their accrued overtime.

"We can absorb volume fluctuations of 20 to 30 percent in our network without ending up in the red," he said.

Daimler is planning short shutdowns especially at its power train factories. Its biggest car plant, in Sindelfingen, Germany, will take a two-week break to modify production lines for the new S-Class due to come to market in early 2013.

Volkswagen's premium car unit Audi, however, will stick with its usual two-week shutdown.

Daimler and Volkswagen both reported stronger-than-expected operating profit this week but gave downbeat forecasts for demand in western Europe.

BMW is due to report third-quarter financial results on Thursday, Nov 3.