Yahoo – AFP,
Alex PIGMAN, October 20, 2017
 |
| BMW headquarters in Munich, southern Germany (AFP Photo/Christof STACHE) |
Brussels
(AFP) - EU antitrust regulators have raided the offices of automaker BMW in
Munich, the company said Friday, in a fresh blow to the beleaguered German car
industry.
The
European Commission, which refused to name the company targeted, said it
"can confirm that as of October 16, 2017 its officials carried out an
unannounced inspection at the premises of a car manufacturer in Germany."
The
inspection was related to "concerns that several German car manufacturers
may have violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive
business practices," a statement said.
The
commission added that Daimler was cooperating with the commission and could
accordingly offer the Mercedes-Benz manufacturer leniency in the case.
"The
inspection is linked to complaints against five auto companies that were
reported in the media last July," BMW said in a statement, that confirmed
the raids but denied any manipulation of diesel emissions.
News weekly
Der Spiegel reported in July that German carmakers Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche,
BMW and Daimler secretly worked together from the 1990s on car development,
construction and logistics -- including how to meet increasingly tough diesel emissions
criteria.
Both buyers
and suppliers of the auto giants suffered from the under-the-table deals, the
magazine alleged.
BMW in July
denied any collusion with industry rivals on emissions from its diesel engines,
saying none of its models had been "manipulated" or violated industry
regulations.
Wolfsburg-based
VW, along with Daimler, was among the first to hand over details of the alleged
broader collusion between the five firms to competition authorities, reported
Spiegel, saying it had seen a relevant VW document.
Diesel
blues
The
allegations of antitrust violations are the latest cloud over Germany's auto
industry.
In 2015,
Volkswagen was forced to admit it had installed software in millions of its
diesel vehicles to cheat emissions tests, which has already cost it tens of
billions of euros.
In a
separate cartel case, Daimler suffered a billion-euro fine from Brussels last
summer for fixing truck prices with competitors.
In theory,
the European Commission or Germany's federal competition authority could fine
firms found guilty of colluding up to 10 percent of annual revenue -- or close
to 50 billion euros ($58.3 billion) across all five car companies, based on
2016 sales.
BMW in its
statement Friday said it wanted to make "the clear distinction"
between the possible antitrust violations and the diesel emissions
manipulations, "which BMW has not been accused of".
Volkswagen
refused comment, but added that its offices were not targeted.
Among the
areas Spiegel reported manufacturers collaborated on was the size of tanks for
a liquid known as AdBlue, used to treat diesel exhaust fumes.
The fluid
reacts with harmful nitrogen oxides found in the emissions and transforms them into
water and nitrogen.
Carmakers
agreed not to add tanks to their vehicles, Spiegel reported, preferring to save
space for golf bags or profitable upgrades such as speaker systems.
Rather than
call on drivers to refill tiny AdBlue tanks every few thousand kilometres,
Volkswagen is alleged to have used so-called "defeat device" software
to cheat emissions tests in some 11 million cars worldwide.
Other
manufacturers including Daimler are suspected of doing the same.
"Vehicles
made by the BMW group were not manipulated and complied with legal
requirements," the firm said Friday in its statement.
BMW was one
of the worst performers in late afternoon trading on Frankfurt's DAX 30 index,
shedding 1.1 percent to 86.47 euros. Fellow carmakers Daimler and Volkswagen
fell by close to one percent each.
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