During his visit, Woidke took a tour of the assembly plant, saw for himself the numerous precautions that have been taken and held talks with the management, employees and the works council. He emphasized: "The history of Mercedes in Ludwigsfelde is a success story. Mercedes has shown courage in times of upheaval and invested in Brandenburg. That was a real stroke of luck for the region. The coronavirus pandemic is putting a strain on the automotive industry in addition to the demanding and complex change processes that are already necessary. The state government is aware of the current difficult situation for companies and their employees and will do everything in its power to ensure good framework conditions."

"The health and safety of our employees is our top priority. That is why we have implemented numerous protective measures for our employees together with the occupational safety department, the plant medical service and our works council. I would like to thank all our employees at the plant for their flexibility and for their extremely high level of commitment. This is the only way our Sprinter production can continue as usual under the difficult conditions," said Dr. Markus Keicher, Site Manager at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Ludwigsfelde. "We are delighted that the Minister President is visiting our plant and seeing for himself how we are dealing with the changed conditions here and thus making our contribution to overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic."

Since April 27, the production lines at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Ludwigsfelde have been running again for the open model of the Sprinter and its derivatives - the powerhead and the wind runner. The restart took place gradually and in compliance with all necessary protective measures. After just a short time, the workforce was able to produce in two shifts, as before the crisis, in order to meet the demand for the Sprinters from Ludwigsfelde. In particular, power heads and wind runners serve as the basis for various motorhomes.

Since the restart of production, numerous precautions such as protective masks, measures to maintain a minimum distance from colleagues and increased hygiene measures have been in place at the Ludwigsfelde plant. Depending on the workplace, the package of measures includes floor markings or specially manufactured and installed partitions in the break areas, for example.