Volkswagen (VW), on Wednesday, partially won a long-running legal battle with Prevent TWB, one of its suppliers, over the cancellation of a contract worth millions.
The Higher Regional Court in Dusseldorf ruled on Wednesday that Volkswagen’s extraordinary termination of a multi-million euro contract with Prevent TWB was permissible.
In March, VW ended its contract with Prevent TWB, which had produced up to two million plastic seats each year for cars made by Volkswagen and its subsidiaries.
The supplier had tried to force the carmaker to pay 25 per cent more for its seats by interrupting supplies.
The judges decided the supplier had tried to blackmail VW by paying more.
However, VW cancelled the contract in spring 2018, effective from March 31, 2019, after the price battle escalated in 2016 when supply stops by ES Guss and Car Trim, both owned by Prevent TWB.
This, VW said, caused production losses at six of its plants.
The Dusseldorf court arrived at a different ruling in a similar case concerning Audi, a VW subsidiary.
Audi had cancelled a contract with the supplier virtually at the same time, but had not issued an extraordinary termination.
The judges decided that the fixed-term contract did not foresee such a unilateral cancellation.
However, the court did not give room for an appeal.
