"I Will Lead Till I'm 100"
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The 80-year-old Osamu Suzuki is back at the helm of Suzuki Motor Co, or SMC, which holds a majority stake in Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, or MSIL. By announcing additional investments in MSIL, SMC plans to ensure that it can retain its overwhelming lead in the Indian market in the face of increased competition. Business Today's Kushan Mitra caught up with the active octogenarian.
There have been questions about succession planning at Suzuki Motor Co. Would you like to address the issue?
As you can see, I am quite healthy right now so I expect to continue. The average age in Japan has increased a lot over the past few decades, and almost touches a 100 right now.
Does this mean that you will lead the company till you are a 100?
Yes (laughs).
Recently, Volkswagen bought a stake in your company. Do you feel that SMC will ultimately subsume into Volkswagen?
As you already know, Volkswagen bought a 19.9 per cent stake in SMC which was in the form of fresh equity. Using half those funds we bought a stake in Volkswagen, amounting to around two per cent. The rest of the funds were used for capital expenditure towards new equipment and facilities. As for car sales, there will be no selling of each others' vehicles.
Will there be joint development of products?
I think before the joint development of products there will be the joint development of components.
SMC would be investing over Rs 1,300 crore in India in two new car plants, modernisation of facilities and in R&D. Given Maruti's shrinking market share, do you feel this decision came too late?
One way of looking at the situation is to say that the announcement is late, but the other way is to say that the increase in demand in the Indian market happened too early. The Indian market is growing at 27 per cent, and frankly no one could have anticipated such growth.
MSIL still holds substantial shares in several Indian component companies, many of whom are listed. Do you plan to either increase your stake or divest your holdings?
We have no plans to either increase or decrease our shareholding in these companies as of now.