According to sources that spoke with Reuters, Volkswagen is close to announcing plans to take a 20 percent stake in Suzuki Motor Corp. A source that asked not to be identified said that Volkswagen could “easily” rise to a controlling stake of more than one-third down the line.

“An announcement could come as early as this week,” the source told Reuters. “This is the first step.”

A 20 percent stake in Japan’s Suzuki would be worth around 250 billion yen ($2.8 billion USD) at current prices.

- By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Reuters