Bloomberg reports Tokyo based Sumitomo Financial Group will increase its stake in Mazda, replacing Ford as the top shareholder by the end of the year. Ford held a controlling stake of around 33% until two years ago when, forced by the financial crisis they sold around 20% and were left with about 11% which is currently valued at $515 million. According to Bloomberg, the Sumitomo Mitsui currently holds at least 2.9 percent in Mazda and the group’s chairman Masayuki Oku announced that, by the end of this year, his company will become the leading shareholder in Mazda.

According to a report from Nikkei English News, Ford has already reached agreements to reduce its holding by selling shares to Sumitomo Mitsui, Sumitomo Corp and suppliers of the Mazda. However, both Mazda and Ford denied the rumors about Ford changing its stake in the Japanese carmaker. "Ford's ownership stake in Mazda remains unchanged," Ford spokesman Mark Truby said last week. "Ford continues to have a close strategic relationship with Mazda, and we cooperate in areas of mutual benefit. We have no further comment on the speculation."

[Source: Bloomberg / Via egmCarTech]

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Japanese financial group to become Mazda top shareholder

On Friday, Dodge posted a short video on their YouTube channel with the description “What happens when you put a Viper engine into a Chrysler 300C?”. The video shows a Chrysler 300C powered by the V10 engine from the Dodge Viper taking a parking lot lap. Everybody was immediately excited, because a 600 hp 300C looks and sounds pretty goddamn (Samuel L. Jackson ftw!) good. Unfortunately, that’s all the info we have so far, so we have no clue if this is a custom made car, a show car for the upcoming SEMA or if Chrysler is actually considering building this. But stay tuned, because once we’ll find out, you’ll be the first to know.

Enjoy the video after the jump!

[Source: Dodge YouTube Channel]

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Chrysler preparing Viper powered 300C?