The feud between Volkswagen Group and Suzuki Motors Corp. continued on Monday, (yes, it looks like a bit of a slap from the bigger German brand to us too), as the German automaker issued a press statement saying that it has no intention to sell its 19.9 percent stake in the Japanese company despite the latter’s request to disband their partnership.
The VW Group said it will keep its stake in Suzuki Motor Corp. “unchanged,” adding “the discussion between both parties will be exclusively conducted internally” and that “it will not comment on any further speculation.”
VW’s statement comes only a few days after Suzuki sent the German company a notice claiming that it had breached several terms of their contract. Among other things, Suzuki blames the German company for denying them access to various technologies despite promises to the contrary when the original deal was sealed, while VW says the Japanese automaker breached their contract when it bought Fiat diesel engines for its cars.
Analysts predict that the 20-month old agreement has reached a dead end: “I can’t conceive how this conflict can possibly be resolved.” commented Daniel Schwarz, an analyst at Frankfurt’s Commerzbank AG. “The chances are growing now that the partnership accord will be dissolved.”
