Scania and Volkswagen are struggling to find synergies between their businesses.
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Scania CEO Leif Östling told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that it is one thing to talk about synergies but it is another to make them work. Östling said he could not see many synergies with Volkswagen and wanted to focus on his own truck business.
“Scania trucks and Volkswagen vehicles are very different and we have only a few suppliers in common, such as Bosch and Continental,” he said.
The newspaper reported that Volkswagen chief executive, Martin Winterkorn, has been heard talking about a closer cooperation between MAN and Scania at the Hannover truck show, which opens to the public today. Östling would not comment on this.
Scania fought off a hostile takeover bid from MAN last year, but Volkswagen is now the largest shareholder in both truck manufacturers. Volkswagen owns 68% of Scania and almost 30% of MAN. “Volkswagen, MAN and Scania must concentrate on each of their own businesses and their own customers,” said Östling.
Head of MAN truck operations, Anton Weinmann, said earlier in the week that there were many synergies to exploit between MAN and each of Scania and Volkswagen. He said that MAN is already talking to Volkswagen about supply engines to Volkswagen’s heavy truck operations in Brazil. He said discussions were moving forward postively.
