Volkswagen recently purchased a 19.9 percent stake in Suzuki – becoming the Japanese automaker’s largest shareholder – but don’t expect that figure to grow in the coming years. Suzuki says it would refuse any future purchase offers from VW.
That 19.9 percent share will be enough for both companies to swap small car and diesel engine technologies, but Suzuki isn’t looking to expand its relationship with VW beyond that.
“When Suzuki becomes a bigger and more successful company, Volkswagen will probably want to buy more of our shares,” Suzuki CEO Osamu Suzuki told Reuters.
“If that happens, Suzuki will probably respond by saying, ‘Let’s continue as we are’,” he added.
Although VW says it has no current plans to purchase a majority stake in the Japanese automaker, VW Chairman Ferdinand Piech has indicated he would like to see the VW family grow from 10 brands to 12. Suzuki currently has strong footholds in India and Japan — the latter where VW recently cut ties with Toyota — two regions that could help VW complete its goal of becoming the world’s largest automaker by 2018.
