EC opens Anti-Trust Investigation into German automakers

The European Commission (EC) on Tuesday announced that it has opened an Anti-Trust Investigation into several German car manufacturers.

The automakers are Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW), Daimler AG, and Volkswagen AG, among others.

The European Union's (EU) antitrust body aims to limit the development of polluting technology. It said it opened the probe on the back of inspections carried out in October 2017 at the premises of BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen, and Audi in Germany.

"If proven, this collusion may have denied consumers the opportunity to buy less polluting cars, despite the technology being available to the manufacturers," EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager highlighted.

The EC's in-depth investigation focuses on "information indicating that BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche, also called the "circle of five", participated in meetings where they discussed inter alia the development and deployment of technologies to limit harmful car exhaust emissions," the antitrust regulator's statement showed.

It is worth noting that EU rules ban agreements and concerted practices that may affect trade and prevent or restrict competition.

The EC also said it "has no indications that the parties coordinated with each other in relation to the use of illegal defeat devices to cheat regulatory testing."

In 2015, Volkswagen admitted to rigging around 11 million diesel-powered vehicles with software that allowed the company to cheat on emissions tests.