European Union To Investigate Top German Automakers

According to the latest reports from a German weekly magazine, Der Spiegel, the country's top automakers indulged in price fixing of various parts. The report claims that about 200 key employees from Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, BMW and Mercedes-Benz formed 60 committees to determine various vehicle parameters. Executives defined parameters for braking technology, safety, emissions, etc., and fixed the pricing and suppliers for the components.

Forming such committees violates the anti-trust and anti-competitive laws of the European Union. The carmakers also settled on using AdBlue, a urea-based chemical, which contains the production of harmful gases if mixed with exhaust gases. Automakers decided to have smaller AdBlue containers as larger tanks would add to the cost of production. The smaller containers are said to be inefficient as the emissions could be further contained with a larger tank.

BMW has denied the allegations in an official statement saying, "The fact is that automobiles from the BMW group are not manipulated and comply with the relevant legal requirements. This of course also applies to diesel automobiles. This is confirmed by the relevant results from tests by national and international authorities."

The European Union has taken notice and said that they'll investigate the matter further. If found guilty, the penalties could paint their books red with losses, but the speed bump won't cause major damage. As the news leaked, the car manufacturers witnessed a substantial drop in their stock prices.

The news doesn't affect the Indian market in any way as the cars here are homologated according to the local emission standards, which are a lot more lenient.

Also Read: Volkswagen India issues official statement on diesel emissions crisis