Volkswagen, BMW Slapped With 875 Million Euro Dollar Fine

The European Commission has slapped two of Germany's largest carmakers – Volkswagen and BMW – with a fine of more than €875 million, accusing the companies of forming a cartel and illegally colluding to restrict competition in emission-cleaning technology for diesel cars.

The Volkswagen group, which includes Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche, agreed to pay €502,362,000, while BMW settled for €372,827,000, according to a Euronews report.

Daimler, also named as part of the scheme, received full immunity and was exempted from retaliation because it informed Brussels about the existence of the cartel. The company could have faced a fine of €727 million if it had not come forward with the revelations.

Brussels found that the multinationals worked together for over five years (from June 2009 to October 2014) in order to avoid fair competition in the EU's single market.

The executive says the cartel held "regular technical meetings" to discuss the development of new technology that eliminates harmful nitrogen oxide emissions from diesel cars.

The companies agreed they would not use the technology at its full potential and that none of them would aim at cleaning above the minimum standard required by EU emissions standards.

This illegal agreement among the manufacturers eliminated the threat that one of them would clean better than any of the others, an artificial arrangement that Brussels considers distorted fair competition and damaged innovation.

"Competition and innovation on managing car pollution are essential for Europe to meet our ambitious Green Deal objectives. And this decision shows that we will not hesitate to take action against all forms of cartel conduct putting in jeopardy this goal," said Margrethe Vestager, the Commission's vice-president in charge of competition, on Thursday morning while announcing the punitive measures.

WEEKLY FEATURE : PAL READY TO SOAR WITH PANDEMIC