The drama continues with Volkswagen and Suzuki’s rocky marriage – Suzuki has sent a letter to Volkswagen demanding that the German company retract its claim that Suzuki violated their tie-up agreement by purchasing diesel engines from Fiat.
According to Suzuki, their global reputation has been significantly damaged by the announcement, and denies that the diesel engine purchase from Fiat Powertrain Technologies violated the agreement. Suzuki claims they consulted Volkswagen about buying the Fiat diesel engines in January, and both parties came to an agreement at that time.
Furthermore, it is claimed that Suzuki only turned to Fiat after engines offered by Volkswagen failed to meet Suzuki’s specs.
The following is an excerpt from a press release issued by Suzuki this week detailing their side of the story of what happened:
Last year, both companies negotiated for several months regarding the conditions for Suzuki’s use of certain engines manufactured by Volkswagen AG, however, Suzuki’s requirements were never satisfied.
In January of this year, when Mr. Osamu Suzuki conferred with Dr. Winterkorn in Hamamatsu, Suzuki delivered its message that Suzuki would not be using Volkswagen diesel engines together with background reasons.
In response to such explanation, Dr. Winterkorn requested Suzuki to issue a written notification if Suzuki decided not to use diesel engines manufactured by Volkswagen AG. Within a couple days of such request, we formally notified Volkswagen AG of such decision in writing. Immediately after issuing such notice, engineers from both companies who are responsible for this matter also mutually confirmed with each other that Suzuki will not use diesel engines manufactured by Volkswagen AG.
Volkswagen AG has requested Suzuki in the mentioned notice to implement a process to compare the diesel engines manufactured by Volkswagen AG and by Fiat as a remedial action. We believe it is clearly unreasonable for Volkswagen AG to claim on 11 September that Suzuki is in breach of the Framework Agreement based on presumption that this process is deficient, after a considerable amount of time has passed since Suzuki and Volkswagen AG mutually confirmed that Suzuki would not be using such engine.
In addition to the above, we have fully expressed our views in the rebuttal letter which we have sent today and have included references to the factual background of this matter including negotiations that occurred before the execution of the agreement which established the alliance on 9 December 2009, and detailed quotations from letters exchanged between the two companies.
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First!
Suzuki should juz concentrate back on motorcycle… too many unproductive automotive manufacturers in Japan
do you know maruti suzuki?
this is turning out like team lotus vs renault lotus….jus shut it both of u n get on with ur jobs !
Mr. Osamu Suzuki seems to have enough time for countless statements in the press while Dr. Winterkorn is busy making plans for the 12th and 13th VW plant in China and how to invest the rest of the US$85 billion…
nowonder you so free commenting others here….
Divorce is a serious issue. Proper delegation of key responsibilities leaves a manager enough time to sort out the serious issues.
maybe that why proton ran away. no quality engine from the germany.
I guess Campro is much better than TSi
U think VW will easily give Proton their TSi ?
Clap Clap Clap, good statement
I think VW is too big and Too Bullying. F@@# them off.
Guess even the Japs cant work with the Inflexible Germans, who thinks that theirs is the only way of getting things done.
Firstly, Suzuki is the market leader in India and VW was hoping to get into the Indian market by using Suzuki. Secondly, the Germans have always been very dominating and do not have much regards for competitors from other countries, especially Asians. The JV would have been difficult from the start because VW is calling all the shots. I guess it was fortunate that Proton did not get into bed with VW, otherwise something similar could have happened. Cheers
for some ppl, that was unfortunate…
Yup Agree with you
With Suzuki 1.2M car produced yearly in Maruti of course VW want the cake and eat ’em all.
Dirty VW
What do you expect when you are going to bed with the 2nd largest car manufacturer in the world. Did Suzuki expect to call the shots?
suzuki have balls
but proton smarter :)
see dirty side of VW..
Probably this tie-up won’t last long. On the other hand, it’s quite a surprise that the current diesel engine range from VW are below that of Suzuki’s requirement/expectation. Given the fact that the Germans built among the best if not, the best diesel engines in the world. Strange..
Maybe part of the requirement is ‘low cost’…?
Sooo….Das Auto…..mana pergi basher2 yg selalu hentam bila P1 xmau ikut telunjuk VW??
VW: “Oh okay, sorry bout that. But I am still keeping your 19% of share.. Wakakakaka”
I love VW!i hope VW takeover little Suzuki and Potongs…of coz throw away the garbage Potongs lolx without Potongs we can buy very cheap cars in M’sia already :)
In other words, VW is hungry for world domination.
Do you think the smart VW will let the Japs steal their technology?
Suzuki should get Peugeot HDi rather than VW diesel….
Peugeot HDi are the best among EU, while asian its Honda CDTi!