They were allegedly carteled
According to the EU enforcement body, they colluded on technical developments in the field of nitrous oxide treatment, but no fine was imposed on Daimler for revealing the existence of the cartel.
“The five carmakers, Daimler, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche, had technology that reduced emissions to a greater extent than required by EU emissions standards. to reduce the emissions of their cars to a greater extent than required by law, ”said Margrethe Vestager, the European Union’s antitrust chief, in a statement.
“So today’s decision is about how badly legal technical cooperation has gone wrong. And we won’t tolerate companies colluding.”
The Volkswagen Group received a fine of EUR 502.4 million and BMW a fine of EUR 372.8 million, and Daimler did not have to pay a fine for cooperating with the European Commission and exposing the cartel.
German companies could have been fined much higher than this, as in theory a fine of up to 10 percent of annual turnover could be imposed.
Incidentally, companies have had time to prepare for the expected fine in recent years, for example, BMW set aside a € 1.4 billion provision for the charges in 2019, but about € 1 billion of this was already released in May this year as the commission dropped some charges completely. Opposite BMW.
Volkswagen can go to court
Regarding the Commission’s announcement, Volkswagen has said it is considering taking legal action against the EU’s antitrust fine, saying the penalty imposed on other carmakers for technical negotiations on emissions technology sets a questionable precedent.
“The Commission is entering a new area of law as it treats technical cooperation for the first time as an antitrust infringement,” the German carmaker said after announcing that the company had been fined € 502 million.
“In addition, it imposes fines, even though the content of the discussions was never carried out by the companies involved and no customer was harmed as a result,” Volkswagen added in a statement.
Volkswagen called for clearer guidelines: “The high fines imposed in this case underline the need for more comprehensive guidance from the Commission to ensure that legal uncertainty does not hamper innovation in Europe.”
BMW put it similarly: Brussels entered the procedure with a “new antitrust”, the investigation was not a price or territorial agreement, yet the EU Commission applied the rules for such a “classic” cartel when calculating the fine and took only moderate account of it. the novelty of the case. Despite the largely dropped charges, this approach has led to the amount of the fine now imposed.
Stock prices are falling
Today, the mood on European stock exchanges is bad anyway, as today’s announcement of a collusion between German carmakers points to. Volkswagen’s share price fell 1.5 percent today,
BMW’s share price fell 1.2 percent,
yet Daimler’s share price falls the most today, despite the fact that Daimler was the only one of the three German companies not to receive a fine. The company’s stock price fell 2.2 percent today.
Cover image: Sebastian Kahnert / picture alliance via Getty Images
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