▶주메뉴 바로가기

▶본문 바로가기

The Korea Herald
검색폼

THE INVESTOR
March 29, 2024

Automobiles

BMW, VW, Mercedes-Benz accused of price-fixing, collusion

  • PUBLISHED :July 31, 2017 - 16:42
  • UPDATED :July 31, 2017 - 16:42
  • 폰트작게
  • 폰트크게
  • facebook
  • sms
  • print

[THE INVESTOR] A local law firm on July 31 said it has submitted a petition with the antitrust agency seeking a probe into price-fixing by the top German carmakers in Korea for their diesel cars.

The move comes as EU and German regulators are investigating whether Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz owner Daimler have formed a cartel for over two decades to collude on wide-ranging issues, including costs, supplier choice, technology and diesel emissions system. 




The German brands are also facing class action lawsuits in US and Canadian court for colluding to drive up the price of their vehicles.

Ha Jong-sun, a lawyer at Barun Law -- a Korean law firm that also represents customers in the on-going VW lawsuits for emissions-rigging -- said he has filed a related petition with the Fair Trade Commission.

“The five carmakers have colluded for years and sold their vehicles at expensive prices in Korea, violating the antitrust rule,” Ha told The Investor. “They also cheated on emissions rule by reducing the size of the AdBlue tank in their vehicles and emit harmful nitrogen oxide.”

Ha said he has already filed a lawsuit against Audi Volkswagen Korea, the local importer of Audi and VW vehicles, and Porsche Korea on behalf of the customers. He is planning to sue the local units of Mercedes-Benz and BMW sometime next week.

If the collusion is proved, the watchdog can fine up to 10 percent of the carmakers’ revenue.

German magazine Der Spiegel reported the automakers secretly held more than 1,000 meetings since 1990s to band on key issues. Among others, they agreed to use small AdBlue tanks in their diesel cars to save as much as 80 Euros (US$93.87) as well as increase space in the car for other features.

VW and Daimler officially declined to comment, while BMW denied allegation, saying the meetings were to install a Europe-wide infrastructure for AdBlue, ruling out “collusion.”

The move comes in the wake of a series of emissions scandals that have put diesel technology on the spot and deeply scarred the German luxury carmakers’ image.

Most recently, Mercedes-Benz Korea decided to recall 100,000 units of diesel vehicles, following its German headquarters’ latest decision to recall over 3 million cars across Europe for alleged emissions-cheating.

The Korean Environment Ministry last year revoked certification and halted sales of 80 models of Audi, VW and Bentley vehicles, as well as imposing hefty fines for installing cheating devices to manipulate emissions and noise level tests.

By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)

EDITOR'S PICKS