Suzuki Motor does not want to share car platforms in India with Volkswagen

Suzuki Motor  has decided not to share its cars' platforms with Volkswagen in India. Volkswagen has got a 20% stake in Suzuki Motor, the Japanese carmaker. Shinzo Nakanishi, MD and CEO of Maruti Suzuki India said that there is no possibility of sharing of platform with Volkswagen as the production and product development costs of Volkswagen are very high and that could make Suzuki’s business unviable.

According to the industry sources, Suzuki Motor and Volkswagen may be confined to the sharing of production facilities for contract manufacturing. Mr Nakanishi said that there is a possibility of an original equipment manufacturing deal with Volkswagen like the way Suzuki has with Nissan which sells hatchback A-Star as the Pixo in Europe. This move of not sharing the car platforms by Suzuki Motor may upset the ambitious plans of Volkwagen, Europe’s largest carmaker. Last year, Volkswagen had picked up a stake of 19.9% in Suzuki Motor Corp for $2.5 billion. At that time, both Volkswagen and Suzuki Motor had expressed their views for exploring the possibilities of vehicle development as well as a joint production.

Suzuki's strong market presence in India was one of the biggest reasons for Volkswagen to agree on this deal. Mr Nakanishi also said that this way the European carmaker may learn a lesson in frugal manufacturing from Maruti. He added that the cost of Volkswagen’s products is high while Maruti’s product management costs are very low. He concluded that the tie up would enable Volkswagen to learn Maruti's low cost manufacturing techniques.