VW Labor Chief Rejects Further Acquisitions

VW labor representatives announced they will reject any future acquisitions by the company, especially of Proton.

Therefore Volkswagen will choose either a minority holding in Proton or a controlling stake to keep up with the growing demand in southeast Asian markets. Europe’s largest carmaker surpassed Toyota becoming the world’s second-largest car maker.

Over the past years Volkswagen had plans to acquire different automakers such as Porsche, MAN, Scania and Ducati in an attempt to surpass GM by 2018.

“We already have 12 brands and we first have to stabilize the group. “Even though further sales and production sites in south-east Asia are important, there is no support from the labor side for a purchase of Proton,” said Bernd Osterloh, labor chief of Volkswagen.

Earlier this month Volkswagen closed a deal with Porsche to create an integrated automotive group. According to this agreement Porsche contributes 50.1% of its business to VW for the total profit of 4.49 billion euro.

DRB-HICOM, which plans to take control over Proton, plans to include VW in this deal, so that both parties would share management and control over the company. But no official statements were given about such an agreement.