German carmakers are suspected of cartel agreements

18 September 2018

BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen can get on a €30,000 fine for every car

Today on Tuesday, the European Commission (EC) announced the start of full-scale official investigation to clarify the possible collusion of German automaker BMW Group (BMW and Mini brands), Daimler AG (Mercedes-Benz brand) and Volkswagen (brands Audi, Porsche and Volkswagen) cartel agreements to eliminate mutual competition in the development of systems for cars with low emissions of harmful substances.
The EC mentions both gasoline and diesel internal combustion engines.
The press release quoted a member of the European Commission for competition Margrethe Vestager: "These technologies are designed to reduce the damage caused by cars to the environment. Such collusion, if his existence is proven, could deprive consumers of the ability to buy less polluting cars, despite the fact that the manufacturers had access to such technology."



In October 2017, the European Commission conducted inspections at the production plants of BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen and Audi in Germany, but have not received unequivocal evidence of a cartel.
Now the investigation has focused on the information about the technical talks with German auto companies. These negotiations concerned the catalytic converters to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides from diesel engines and particulate traps for engines with spark ignition (Otto-engines for German terminology).
In the case of evidence of the Commission of the fact of creation of the companies BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen of illegal cartel, they expect very serious penalties.
By the way, the European Commission has already identified as increased fines for lack of safety and bad for the environment car by the standards of the European Union. Accordingly, the fines for these violations can reach as high as €30 thousand for the car.