The German car manufacturers Volkswagen, BMW, Audi, Porsche and Daimler would have created a real cartel in order to fix the prices of systems for managing diesel engine emissions.
The German weekly "Der Spiegel" wrote it on Friday.
Based on what is reported in the article, which in turn refers to a letter sent to the antitrust authorities, the "car cartel" would have acted through sixty industrial committees, which comprise about two hundred people involved in vehicle development, brakes, fuel and diesel engines, clutches and transmissions, as well as exhaust treatment systems.
According to the weekly, Volkswagen has already admitted to having adopted potentially anti-competitive behavior in a letter sent to the same antitrust on July 4th.
Going into detail, the four car manufacturers would have agreed on the prices of the components and the choice of suppliers. Not only that, since 2006 they have also discussed the cost of AdBlue, a system for treating diesel engine exhaust gases.
The news published by Der Spiegel sent the European automotive sector into turmoil, weighing down the continental lists and especially Frankfurt which ended the session with a drop of 1,8%. In deep red not only the manufacturers involved in the case, but also Fiat Chrysler which on the Ftse Mib lost 2,72% to 10,02 euros, a much worse performance than that of the main list which closed the day down 1,1%.
