Posted on 10/20/2017 7:58:17 AM PDT by Olog-hai
EU anti-trust regulators have raided the offices of automaker BMW in Munich, the company said, in a fresh blow to the German car industry already hit by the Dieselgate scandal.
The European Commission, which refused to confirm 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 firm leniency in the case. [ ]
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.
Wolfsburg-based VW, along with Mercedes-Benz parent 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at thelocal.de ...
All of Europe works that way.
As a consumer you have to wonder which is worse, companies colluding on how to meet standards or government fining them.
The European Commission—realizing that supporting turbodiesel cars was a huge mistake because diesel engines emit a lot of particulates and NOx gases—are trying to make up for lost time.
How is that a “mistake”?
If consumers want diesel-cycle cars, whether normally aspirated, supercharged or turbocharged, they ought to have them.
The existence of the European Commission is the mistake. If the USA had to intervene in anything in Europe, it should have been in the creation of things like the Treaty of Rome. Problem is, we were led by anti-freedom leftists at the time this was happening.
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