Suzuki Motor Corp.’s move to sell its 50% stake to General Motors Co. ends their CAMI joint assembly operation in Canada, cutting one of the few remaining links between the partners. No reason was given for the timing or pricing of the sale that had been announced very recently.

Due to declining sales of the XL7 SUV, Suzuki halted production at its Ingersoll, Ontario, plant last summer. Last month, GM revealed that it would invest $85.1 million to retool the plant and pump up production by 40,000 vehicles. CAMI currently makes the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain. Continued after the jump!

It was GM that approached Suzuki with a proposal with regards to the stake, according to Suzuki spokesman Hideki Taguchi.

He said that Suzuki won’t be taking a loss on the sale and he reasons that since it has no model in production there and with no plans for one, “the position of CAMI has gone down.” The CAMI partnership had begun in November 1986 when GM sought out Suzuki to gain knowledge about Japanese production methods.

But it was in 1981 that the two companies first linked up when GM bought an initial 5.3 percent stake in the Japanese automaker. GM’s holding increased to more than 20 percent in 2001 but this was later reduced to 3 percent as GM was forced to dump a huge part of its holdings when it faced bankruptcy late last year.

[via autonews - sub. required]

Tags: car news, general motors, gm news, suzuki cami stake, suzuki gm cami joint-venture

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