Suzuki has just released a press statement saying that, because of the Volkswagen Group's unwillingness to sell back 19.9% of its own shares, it has made the decision to take the dispute to an international court for arbitration, marking the latest episode in a long-standing spat between the two automakers.
The Japanese company's official statement follows below:
"Suzuki Motor Corporation ("Suzuki") is today commencing arbitration proceedings in London with the ICC International Court of Arbitration, in order to compel Volkswagen AG to dispose of its Suzuki shares to Suzuki or Suzuki's designated third party.
The arbitration proceedings follow Suzuki's termination of its alliance with Volkswagen AG on 18 November 2011, and Volkswagen AG's lack of response to Suzuki's requests for the disposition of its shares to Suzuki or Suzuki's designated third party."
The two companies have been fighting each other ever since a document in VW’s 2010 annual report described Suzuki as an “associate” was reported in March. The quarrel between the two automakers escalated with the Germans later on accusing the Japanese firm for violating their agreement by buying diesel engines from the Fiat Group.
The Volkswagen Group has not yet issued a statement on the matter. However, when Suzuki threatened to take the Germans to court last week, VW's reply was: “We are extremely disappointed that Suzuki has taken this step to terminate the agreement. There is no legal foundation whatsoever obliging us to surrender our shares. Volkswagen will continue to hold its stake.”
11 Comments:
THose damn hard-headed krauts should their asses kicked. Go Suzuki!
Who exactly is being hard headed here? Suzuki sold shares to Volkswagen of their own free will. The money was used to pay down debt. VW now owns just under 20%, and that is a significant holding. Of course they see Suzuki as an associate. Then Suzuki broke the spirit of the agreement, and now wants their ball and bat back, and wants to go home. There is no compelling reason why VW has to sell the shares back, it is their investment to keep if they wish. In any case, this is going to arbitration, not a court. It will be a negotiated compromise if anything is done at all. "Asses kicked" is not on the table.
It's suzuki for crying out loud. The poor little car company that couldn't even afford to attend the LA or Detroit auto shows.
Sometimes it's better to just be the nice guy for the sake of being the nice guy. They get their shares back and VW gets some cash in its pocket. What's the big deal?
VW needs to find a cost-effective way into the Indian market and I suspect they still view Suzuki as the best means of doing that. Suzuki's pissed because VW promised them full access to their technologies and as the months went on, those promises turned out to be empty. Suzuki obviously now feels that they can continue to do well following an independent path, with separate arrangements with other makers as and when required, such as FIAT. VW won't be letting go anytime soon....
I've heard voices here in the Toyota HQs that Suzuki's designated third party might be Toyota...:p
Obviously you read the contract with more attention than Suzuki's Lawyers... Not.
Nobody (of us) know about this contract to take a party.
keep fighting suzuki!!! BMW destroyed Rover instead of fixing the company. Diamler tried its very best to do the same thing to Chrysler for their own benifit. VW will steal all of your business in india and then let suzuki fade away. the germans are very arrogant when it comes the automobile business.
Well there have been marriages with the "Germans" in the past:
BMW and the Rover Group
Mercedes (Daimler) Benz and Chrysler...
and what happened afterwards with Rover and Chrysler?
Sure! Just 3 words! GM, Opel, Saab!
don't blame SUZUKI, the honor of SAMURAI was scratched, brava SUZUKI difendi il tuo prestigio!
And what happend with Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Mini, Skoda, SEAT, Lamborghini, Western Star, and Freightliner under German ownership? Most of them would´t exist without the Germans and American compapnies aren´t better!
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