COMMENT: VW easing its way further into Navistar

Volkswagen Truck and Bus has quietly increased, by some US$8.5m, its stake in Navistar Corporation, the US manufacturer of International-branded commercial vehicles. Navistar spokesperson Lyndi McMillan has said “We do expect it to continue”, speaking of VW’s latest stock purchase, adding that the purchase was not above “the allotted amount that cannot be done without (Navistar) board approval” and that “VW is just kind of inching their way up”.

Industry observers are now waiting for the first VW-initiated product move. It could be unspectacular, by way of an equally quiet consolidation of Navistar’s long-standing