Volkswagen AG won't sell its stake in Suzuki Motor Corp. and is looking to the next generation of Suzuki's leadership to improve cooperation, Handelsblatt reported, citing an interview with Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn.
The German business daily quoted Winterkorn as saying that VW was pursuing long-term goals with a view to its 19.9 percent stake. "If Suzuki's current leadership doesn't want to cooperate, then perhaps the next generation will," he said, according to the paper.
The newspaper also quoted Winterkorn as saying that the company's performance-related pay would reach a record this year. Commenting on the next round of wage talks set to begin early next year, he said VW was looking to increase pay for its 100,000 workers in Germany by at least the rate of inflation, according to Handelsblatt.
Winterkorn also said he didn't know why the European Commission was making a new attempt to overturn the so-called Volkswagen Law, which protects the carmaker from a takeover, as Europe had more important problems to solve.