Suzuki CEO says VW projects to start in Jan
Suzuki Motor Corp. and Volkswagen AG will begin work on joint projects starting around Jan. 10, after the year-end holidays, Suzuki CEO Osamu Suzuki said on Wednesday.
Japan's fourth-largest automaker and VW last week announced a comprehensive tie-up that will see Europe's top automaker take 19.9 percent of Suzuki.
"We generally understand what we want from each other, through information exchange up to now," the CEO told reporters at the launch of the new Alto minicar in Tokyo.
"Actual, detailed execution -- with our people going there and their people coming here -- will be after January," he said.
Suzuki said the new partners have agreed they want to develop a competitive, small car, seen as key to expanding sales in developing countries.
Responding to a report in Indian newspaper Economic Times quoting a top Maruti Suzuki India official as saying that VW and Suzuki may develop a small car that would cost $4,300-$5,400, Suzuki said: "Suzuki Motor has authority over this, not (Indian subsidiary) Maruti."
Clarifying his comments, Maruti Chairman R.C. Bhargava said the parent company, not Maruti Suzuki, is speaking directly with VW.
"What I have said is, one of the possibilities is that Volkswagen could outsource a small car from us," he told Reuters.
Analysts said joint development of a small, low-cost car would be mutually beneficial, giving VW the coveted expertise of profitably making tiny cars and Suzuki the economies of scale to be more cost-competitive.
"Working together in the ultra-small segment will probably reap the biggest benefit for both companies," said Fumikazu Kitagawa, managing director at Nomura Research Institute. "With small cars, you can't go in half-heartedly. But hardly anyone dares because it's so difficult to make money."
Source: Suzuki CEO says VW projects to start in Jan
Japan's fourth-largest automaker and VW last week announced a comprehensive tie-up that will see Europe's top automaker take 19.9 percent of Suzuki.
"We generally understand what we want from each other, through information exchange up to now," the CEO told reporters at the launch of the new Alto minicar in Tokyo.
"Actual, detailed execution -- with our people going there and their people coming here -- will be after January," he said.
Suzuki said the new partners have agreed they want to develop a competitive, small car, seen as key to expanding sales in developing countries.
Responding to a report in Indian newspaper Economic Times quoting a top Maruti Suzuki India official as saying that VW and Suzuki may develop a small car that would cost $4,300-$5,400, Suzuki said: "Suzuki Motor has authority over this, not (Indian subsidiary) Maruti."
Clarifying his comments, Maruti Chairman R.C. Bhargava said the parent company, not Maruti Suzuki, is speaking directly with VW.
"What I have said is, one of the possibilities is that Volkswagen could outsource a small car from us," he told Reuters.
Analysts said joint development of a small, low-cost car would be mutually beneficial, giving VW the coveted expertise of profitably making tiny cars and Suzuki the economies of scale to be more cost-competitive.
"Working together in the ultra-small segment will probably reap the biggest benefit for both companies," said Fumikazu Kitagawa, managing director at Nomura Research Institute. "With small cars, you can't go in half-heartedly. But hardly anyone dares because it's so difficult to make money."
Source: Suzuki CEO says VW projects to start in Jan
