Nissan doesn’t expect Volkswagen’s buy-in at Suzuki to affect its own deal with the Japanese firm over production of the Pixo – a rebadged A-star – that is built at Maruti’s Manesar plant in Gurgaon, Haryana.
Nissan COO Toshiyuki Shiga has told Autocar, “Suzuki and Nissan have done a lot of business for many years. As far as we are concerned, nothing changes.”
VW took a 20 percent stake in Suzuki late last year – with VW chief Ferdinand Piech saying that he'd been attracted by "cutting-edge supermini technology, better presence in emerging markets - and motorbikes".
The latter comment has sparked speculation that the VW Group could be considering building two-wheeled vehicles to accompany its burgeoning range of cars, vans and trucks.
VW Group chief Martin Winterkorn said that VW and Suzuki are planning to work on joint projects. "We have set up a joint project office in Wolfsburg to coordinate cooperation," he said. "Work on concrete ideas and vehicle projects will begin in the coming weeks."