Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said BMW, Daimler and VW are suspected of agreeing "not to compete against each other on the development and roll-out" of anti-pollution systems for petrol and diesel passenger cars. "If proven, this collusion may have denied consumers the opportunity to buyless polluting cars, despite the technology being available to the manufacturers," she added. The Commission said the probe was working with evidence of meetings andcollusion by a group it called the "circle of five": BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen,in addition to VW units Audi and Porsche. EU regulators working the investigation launched a series of raids a yearago in Germany. Daimler and VW are widely reported to be putting themselves forward aswhistle-blowers in the case, in order to win leniency with the EU authorities.

Source: The Local September 18, 2018 08:37 UTC