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East German MZ Motorcycles Sputter to an End

DPA News Report (kjb)June 8, 2008

The MZ plant that has made motorcycles in the eastern German state of Saxony since 1922 is to close at the end of the year after its Malaysian backers pull the plug on losses, a news report said.

https://p.dw.com/p/EFi7
MZ motorcycle
MZ bikes will soon be historyImage: AP

MZ, which stands for Motorcycle Works Zschopau, the town in the Ore Mountains where the company is based, has generated losses for Hong Leong Industries since being taken over in 1996.

The Freie Presse newspaper from the nearby city of Chemnitz said the plant would close on December 31.

The closure had been widely anticipated, as this is the date when subsidies from the state of Saxony end. Some 40 workers at the concern are set to lose their jobs.

MZ is one of the world's oldest motorcycle makers, continuing to produce through World War II and afterwards under the communist East German government.

Germany's only other motorcycle maker is BMW.

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