TOKYO -- General Motors and its Japanese alliance partners have linked purchasing organizations in an effort to cut costs.
GM, Subaru producer Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., Suzuki Motor Corp. and Isuzu Motors Ltd. jointly will buy 12 items for GM's Asia-Pacific operations and the Japanese factories of the other carmakers. The items, which include generators, glass, steel and audio speakers, cost about $1.4 billion a year, or about 11 percent of procurement costs for the four partners in those regions.
GM owns 20 percent of both Suzuki and Fuji Heavy and 49 percent of Isuzu.
