Das Erste: Allegation of cartel will cost BMW and Volkswagen €875 million – 2024-04-22 08:45:38

/ world today news/ The European Commission fined BMW and Volkswagen a total of 875 million euros for cartel collusion, reports the German television channel Das Erste. The car manufacturers have agreed on the technical specifics related to the exhaust gas cleaning requirements. The European Commissioner for Competition Vestager defined this approach as unacceptable. Daimler has been out of the water since it disclosed the collusion.

The German car manufacturers, known for their diesel cheating – have added a new chapter to the history of scandals in this regard. The European Commission has fined BMW and Volkswagen a total of 875 million euros in criminal sanctions. According to European competition commissioner Vestager, manufacturers have agreed on the size of the tanks from which AdBlue, which helps clean diesel exhaust, is added.

Part of this illegal cartel conspiracy was also the Daimler company, which came out of the water dry and is the main witness in the case. Markus Price from Brussels is in touch with us. So big fines for BMW and Volkswagen – how far have the carmakers come in their agreements?

MARCUS PRICE, correspondent for Das Erste: It’s about supplementand AdBlue to be used at dieselthem engines. The concerns are agreedli for the size of the tanks for this substance, for the range it wantsetc to achieve in this way, and therefore about how much AdBlue will be consumed per kilometer.

Competition Commissioner Vestager stated that in fact the concerns have agreed not to compete with each other in this area and to fulfill only the absolute minimum of the requirements provided by law. In this regard, she said that it was unacceptableas the industry must of course constantly struggle to find better solutionsa from the point of view of the European Commission similarisn collusion completely excludes this.

After taking this decision, the EU started on a new path for it, according to those who observe the situation. Why?

MARCUS PRICE: IN the eventthe of classic cartels agreements, we always talk, on the one hand, about price agreements. That is, they they get along: we all offer products at such and such a price so that we have no competition. Or we are talking about territorial agreements, that is: you sell your products there, we sell ours here, and we do not create much competition with each other.

But now we are talking about technical cooperation and cooperative and that, in fact, common standards have been established in this area. And of course, there are also critics and concerns from the concerns, who say that instead of fines, it would be better to introduce clear rules on this matter, as they will be needed even more often in the future. If we want to move to electric motors in the automotive industry, then we have to cooperate, but nno one wants to and can’t to constantly risk this cooperation yes considered as a cartel agreement.

Thanks to Marcus Price in Brussels.

Translation: ES