German car firms may have colluded
• EU and German watchdogs probe companies on shared tech secrets
The European Commission and the German cartel office have received information about possible collusion among German car manufacturers and are studying the allegation.
The European Commission and the German cartel office are studying information received on possible collusion among German car makers, they said in a statement on Saturday.
“It is premature at this stage to speculate further,” said the statement.
“The commission and national competition authorities co-operate closely with each other on such issues in the context of the European Competition Network.”
Der Spiegel magazine reported last week that the biggest car manufacturers — Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen as well as Volkswagen’s Audi and Porsche brands — may have colluded for decades on technology. The companies declined to comment.
The share prices of BMW, Volkswagen and Daimler tumbled on the magazine’s report, which cited a document submitted by Volkswagen in July 2016 and referred to another from Daimler. The German cartel office, or Bundeskartellamt, said in a statement on Friday that it searched the car companies in 2016 as part of a probe into a possible steel cartel. It did not elaborate on a possible followup probe on car technology, saying it cannot comment on continuing investigations.
According to Spiegel’s report, the five car brands held meetings starting in the 1990s to coordinate activities related to their vehicle technology, costs, suppliers and strategy as well as diesel emission controls.
The discussions involved more than 200 employees in 60 working groups in areas including car development, petrol and diesel motors, brakes and transmissions.
Talks may have also involved the size of tanks for AdBlue fluid for diesel cars, the magazine reported. That is at the heart of the emissions case.
The Spiegel report said that one aim of the collusion was to obstruct competition, with the car makers agreeing on costs for components or technical details such as convertible roofs.
Volkswagen’s share price fell as much as 4.9%. Daimler, the maker of Mercedes-Benz vehicles, dropped as much as 3.2% and BMW 3.4%.
According to the cartel office, the raid took place exactly a year ago and targeted six car makers and suppliers.
Der Spiegel said that the follow-up probe was essentially a by-product of that raid, which involved 50 employees of the cartel authority, aided by local police and regional lawenforcement officers.