AUTONEWS

BMW-DAIMLER-VW: The Three Sisters

German automakers BMW, Daimler, owner of Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen have agreed to avoid competition in developing technology to reduce emissions of gaseous pollutants, the European Commission said on Friday, citing a "preliminary" report.
"We fear that this has happened in this case and that Daimler, VW and BMW have violated EU competition rules," European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement, noting that companies "now have the opportunity to respond" to Brussels.
Initial findings from the open investigation in September 2018 indicate that the three automakers participated in a "collusion system" to "limit the development and deployment of emission reduction technologies for new diesel and gasoline vehicles", states the Commission in the statement.
The practices, which took place between 2006 and 2014, were established during technical meetings of the factories called "Circle of Five" and deprived consumers of buying less polluting vehicles, says the community executive.
The systems that would have been affected would be selective catalytic reduction (SCR) for diesel engines and Otto (OPF) particle filters for gasoline cars, says Brussels, which did a series of inspections in 2017.
The investigation began three years after revelations in the United States that Volkswagen had installed a device in millions of diesel vehicles around the world to circumvent emissions testing.If information about the cartel is confirmed, the price to pay will be high. In July 2016, the EU executive fined 2.93 billion euros for four European truck manufacturers, accused of selling price agreements for 14 years.