At the end of October, Saxony Minister President Michael Kretschmer (CDU) has on more than one occasion proposed reviving the concept of an “Auto Union.” At the peak of world economic crisis in 1932, one was created with its headquarters in Chemnitz by several car makers in Saxony (Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer) to pursue innovative production concepts. The concept of creating a new company today, separate from Volkswagen, with the latter’s production site in Zwickau otherwise facing shutdown, is to produce something other than cars, Kretschmer says: “Combine harvesters instead of military products!”

Kretschmer’s idea, which includes a concept for “competitive wages”—which the national metal workers union rejects, because it would be based on incentives for productivity instead of fixed wage levels—is nevertheless welcomed by metal workers in Saxony as a first step, as well as by automobile suppliers. Kretschmer has reacted to critics, saying he was open for a discussion, “because without the labor unions and the works council it will not work,” and he wants to find a solution acceptable for all sides.

(If connected to a set of state guarantees and low-interest production loans, wage levels could be kept by producing substantial numbers of combine harvesters for the Global South.