Being a low volume automaker attempting to compete with mainstream vehicles in the global market isn’t easy to do, which can explain why Volkswagen picked up a 19.9 percent share of Suzuki in 2009.
The two automakers hoped the tie-up would allow the companies to share technologies, and also to help VW take advantage of Suzuki’s foothold in key markets in India and Japan. But Suzuki’s sales figures have been tumbling since its peak in 2007, and according to Ward’s, the small automaker may turn to VW for new engines to help prop-up its struggling line of vehicles.
At this time, however, the suggestion of using VW engines is still officially just “being considered,” but with minimal examples of collaboration to show for between Suzuki and VW to date, it is very likely that the two companies will leverage technology or platform sharing in the near future.
Steve Younan, director-marketing and product planning for Suzuki, also said this to Ward’s, “Our whole product cadence got pushed back because of this relationship. We had to slowdown our process to see what we could take advantage of and what they could take advantage of. It’s taking longer than we thought.”
Although purely speculative at this point, it is unlikely that Suzuki would have slowed its product development down without a strong possibility of it adding VW technology to make up for lost time.
References
1.’Suzuki U.S. exec…’ view
