Photo by Khunkorn Laowisit
European Commission antitrust regulators have informed BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen of its preliminary view that the companies have breached EU antitrust rules from 2006 to 2014 by colluding to restrict competition on the development of technology to clean the emissions of petrol and diesel passenger cars.
"Companies can cooperate in many ways to improve the quality of their products. However, EU competition rules do not allow them to collude on exactly the opposite: not to improve their products, not to compete on quality. We are concerned that this is what happened in this case and that Daimler, VW and BMW may have broken EU competition rules. As a result, European consumers may have been denied the opportunity to buy cars with the best available technology. The three car manufacturers now have the opportunity to respond to our findings," said Commissioner in charge of competition policy Margrethe Vestager.
The move could lead to large fine for the companies.
The Commission has particular concerns over the selective catalytic reduction systems, which reduce nitrogen oxide emissions in diesel car exhaust streams, and 'Otto' particle filters, which reduce harmful particle emissions in exhaust gases of petrol cars with direct injection.
The view taken by the Commission, preliminarily, is that by restricting competition on innovation with regard to these two technologies, the companies have denied consumers the chance to buy less polluting cars.
If, after investigations have been completed, the Commission concludes that there is sufficient evidence of an infringement, the companies could be facing fines of up to 10% of the annual worldwide turnover.
Daimler, which owns Mercedes-Benz, said that it had been "cooperating extensively" with the Commission and does not expect to be fined as a result. BMW and Volkswagen have yet to comment.
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