GM Sells Much of its Equity in Suzuki
Despite selling the stocks, GM will continue working with Suzuki in a technological and production alliance. In recent times the two automakers worked together to develop hybrid and fuel cell technology, not to mention further investment in the update of the CAMI plant, for the production of Chevrolet’s Equinox and Pontiac’s Torrent midsize SUVs. GM will also continue to use Suzuki’s economy and compact cars for its Asian market.
While nothing will change in the immediate future concerning the development of joint Suzuki and General Motors projects, it is expected that Suzuki will grow more autonomous with future products. As it stands, Suzuki is the sole proprietor of the new and vastly improved Vitara, not to mention the Hungarian-built SX4 crossover, which it co-developed with ex-GM partner Fiat. Could it also mean that Suzuki will bring over the European-market Swift to North America? Its global products would prove highly successful in the fast-growing North American B-Segment marketplace, not to mention the fact that it isn’t particularly pleased with the quality and reliability of its GMDAT products.
While our fingers are crossed for new and different cars, it’s important to keep in mind that Suzuki owns a 10 percent stake in Daewoo (GMDAT), the purveyor of the Aveo/Wave/Swift+ (Wave/Swift+ in Canada only), the Optra/Forenza (Optra only in Canada, while the Forenza is only in the US), and the Verona/Epica (Verona in both markets while the Epica is Canada only). This is, of course, doesn’t take into consideration the high price of labour and shipping for its European-built machines. Nevertheless, this newfound freedom should give Suzuki greater independence and open new doors.
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