Suzuki Chairman and CEO Osamu Suzuki has announced the appointment of son Toshihiro Suzuki as the company’s new president.

Osamu Suzuki, 85, also said that he will continue as chairman and CEO of the automaker.

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Toshihiro Suzuki will serve as Suzuki chief operating officer as well as president.

Nikkei reported that the surprise announcement may be related to the pending formal cancellation of the partnership between Volkswagen and Suzuki which has been the subject of a lengthy legal arbitration process that is now nearing a judgement.

Toshihiro Suzuki, a mere 56, will take care of the operations side of the business, Nikkei said, with Osamu in charge of overseeing management and corporate alliance strategies.

Industry analysts expect that Suzuki’s strategic direction – and possible collaborations or alliances with others – will now be at the top of the agenda for its managers following a period in which it has been effectively out of the consolidation match-making game due to the VW dispute which centred on a cross-shareholding that VW was unwilling to undo.

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Suzuki has also just announced a business plan that says it will concentrate on “mini to C, and SUV segment” models to “correspond to the expanding global compact car market”. It will also consolidate platforms and focus on the development of gasoline engine technology for future powertrains.

It will also make Japan, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Hungary as production bases for its global car business.

See also: JAPAN: Suzuki says VW dispute arbitration proceedings over