EU fines Japanese car parts cartel €138m

Mitsubishi Electric (Melco) and Hitachi have been hit with a €137.8m (£135m) penalty by the European Union's executive arm for running a cartel to fix prices for alternators and starters.

Three firms ran the cartel, Melco, Hitachi and Denso, but Denso was not fined as it blew the whistle on the anti-competitive activity.

The European Commission said the three companies coordinated prices and allocated customers or projects for more than five years.

"Although contacts associated with forming and running the cartel took place outside the European Economic Area (EEA), the cartel affected European customers as alternators and starters were also sold directly to car manufacturers in the EEA," the EC said.

Antitrust commissioner Margrethe Vestager said: "Breaking cartels remains a top priority for the Commission, in particular when they affect important consumer goods, such as cars.

"Today's decision sanctions three car part producers whose collusion affected component costs for a number of car manufacturers selling cars in Europe, and ultimately European consumers buying them. If European consumers are affected by a cartel, the Commission will investigate it even if the cartel meetings took place outside Europe."

The EC's investigation revealed that between September 2004 and February 2010 the companies met at each other's offices and in restaurants and were in contact over the phone on a regular basis, in order to limit competition between them.

The trio agreed their responses to certain calls for tenders issued by car manufacturers, to determine what price they would tender and who should win the specific business.

They also shared out certain vehicle manufacturers and projects between themselves in terms of which of the three would supply alternators and starters, as well as exchanging commercially sensitive information such as price elements and market strategies.