Volkswagen will buy 20% of Suzuki for $US2.5 billion.

VW wants Suzuki's production facilities in India, and increased access to the Asian/Japanese market, as well as Suzuki's small car platforms. Suzuki would benefit from VW's diesel, electric and hybrid technology.

This would give the VW Group 11 brands - VW Passenger Cars, VW Commercial Vehicles, Audi, SEAT, Skoda, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Bentley, Porsche, Scania and Suzuki, with combined sales larger than Toyota.

http://news.globaltv.com/world/Volkswagen+buying+stake+Suzuki/2319891/story.html 

Good stuff,
better than the other way around.
Bomber

Sweet, VW puddle jumpers coming soon?

Not sure about that, we don't get many Audi, SEAT, Skoda, Lamborghini etc owners posting here. I would think that Suzuki fans would have their own clubs and chat groups and I find it hard to imagine them having any interest in air-cooled VWs. Maybe they might upgrade to Golf GTIs - who knows.

Club Veedub used to have a few Audi drivers and enthusiasts in the old days but they have their own club now - http://www.clubaudinsw.org/  and I haven't put any Audi stuff in the club magazine for ages. I think you have to draw the line somewhere and for the Club Veedub magazine I'm going to stick with Volkswagens and forget the rest.

I don't think the '55-'57 Chevy club, for example, worry about Oldsmobiles, Cadillacs, Saturns or Pontiacs, let alone Opels or Holdens or Vauxhauls, even though they are all GM. I don't think we need to worry about the 'non VW' Volkswagen Group marques - it's hard enough to get Aussieveedubbers to like VW Golfs, Polos and Passats etc let alone the other Group models. Does anyone here care about what is happening in the SEAT or Skoda world?

If they start pumping out genuine quality spares for '56 VW's I'll give them a call.

sweeeet, I work at a 1/5 Volkswagen dealership !!!!!!!!! yeah

I'm looking at buying a Suzuki Swift...

Can I put a VW badge on it????

:LEE

PS: I know its all Suzuki ... lol

Should have bought into Subaru...

Nah. Subaru is owned by Fuji Heavy Industries, which is 16.5% owned by Toyota. Previously it was GM who owned the shares, but Toyota bought into Subaru so they could use Subaru's US plant to make Camrys. Toyota wouldn't sell to VW. I don't think Subaru would have any infrastructure, that VW would want anyway - VW is building their own brand-new factory in the US.

No Lee a Suzuki Swift is NOT a VW. At this stage VW is only buying 20% of Suzuki in order to secure production and distribution facilities; there won't be any change to the way Suzuki is run. It will stay a separate, independently-run company. Other group brands - Audi, SEAT, Skoda, Lamborghini, Bentley and Bugatti - are 100% Volkswagen owned so VW controls what they do. VW only owns 70% of Scania trucks, 49% of Porsche and 30% of MAN trucks, so they stay independent as well. Although last I heard VW was considering merging Scania with their Brazilian VW Truck division.

Suzuki Swift?? You're better off buying a VW Polo instead (winner of NRMA Best Cars award, 2006 & 2007)

I have found their warranties to be excellent and our new beetle cabrio now has nearly 180k on it.

Yogie

Aaaah, so there will be a VW connection to my wife's Astro Swift then....albeit very distant.

I own 2 Volkswagen cars and 2 Suzuki motorcycles. Would be strange for them to end up the same company

Lee, you should take a Polo for a test drive and make up your own mind. Don't worry about what you read on other forums. VW will sell almost 30,000 new cars in Australia this year - for good reason.

There are plenty of classic air-cooled VW people here who also have modern VWs as their daily drivers - me included. It's the best of all possible worlds.

I've got a `99 Passat and it's had less problems than any of my dad's Ford Falcons (leaseplan new vehicles) or mums new model Holden Barina or Ford Focus.