BMW, Volkswagen and Mercedes’ parent company Daimler are to be investigated by the EU Commission over concerns they colluded to hold back emission-busting tech.
The Commission is concerned the car makers, including VW Group companies Audi and Porsche, may have breached antitrust rules, which “prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices, including agreements to limit or control technical development”.
The probe will investigate if BMW, Daimler and VW worked with each other to “limit the development and roll-out” of selective catalytic reduction systems (SCR) – more commonly known as AdBlue – and diesel particulate filters.
Margrethe Vestager, the commissioner in charge of competition policy, said the probe will look into whether the companies “agreed not to compete against each other on the development and roll-out of important systems to reduce harmful emissions from petrol and diesel passenger cars.”
Vestager warned that if proven, the collusion “may have denied consumers the opportunity to buy less polluting cars, despite the technology being available to the manufacturers."
While the Commission said “the opening of a formal investigation does not prejudge its outcome”, it referred to BMW, Daimler, VW, Porsche and Audi as the “circle of five”. The EU Commission said it will investigate if they “participated in meetings where they discussed inter alia [among other things] the development and deployment of technologies to limit harmful car exhaust emissions.”
Other subjects said to have been discussed by the car makers include the pooling of technical expertise on crash safety, the speeds at which convertible roofs open, and the speeds at which cruise control systems can operate.
The EU Commission said, however, that with these subjects, it “does not have sufficient indications that these discussions between the "circle of five" constituted anti-competitive conduct that would merit further investigation”. The Commission also said there were “no indications” the firms had colluded in the development of illegal emission “defeat devices”.
Volkswagen said it was “fully cooperating with the European Commission”. The company added that the initiations of proceedings is “a purely procedural step in the process, which was fully expected by Volkswagen” and that the “presumption of innocence continues to apply until the investigations have been fully completed.”
The spokesperson added: “Due to the fact that the investigations are ongoing, the Volkswagen Group is not in a position to comment on the proceedings and, in particular, on the details of the proceedings at the present time.”
BMW echoed the sentiments contained in VW’s statements, adding: it is important to make a clear distinction between possible violations of antitrust law and a targeted manipulation of exhaust gas treatment, as the latter allegation does not relate to the BMW Group”. BMW also said it is “wholeheartedly committed to the principles of market economics and fair competition.”
Mercedes has been approached for comment.
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