Over the past few months the relationship between Suzuki and Volkswagen has soured to the point that the Japanese want the Germans
to sell them their 20% stake in
Suzuki, and they promise to sell their 1.49% stake in VW. Alas VW is not
interested in breaking off the marriage at this point in time.
A report from Automobil
Produktion claims a VW executive said returning the 20% to Suzuki
would be out of the question, and that his company is still very much interested
in making the marriage work. VW reckons there are plenty of complementary attributes shared between
the two, not least of all the fact that Suzuki practically runs amok in the highly desirable India
market where VW has barely made a dent.
In January 2009 VW AG bought a 19.9% stake in Suzuki Motor, while Suzuki itself purchased 1.49% of
VW. A few months ago Suzuki angered VW by signing an engine supply agreement
with rival Fiat, while Suzuki said
the agreement was perfectly within
the bounds of the relationship. VW had also ticked off the Japanese by claiming it could “significantly
influence financial and operating policy decisions” at Suzuki.
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