European truck giants fined 2.9bn euros for taking part in truck cartel

A truck cartel formed by companies MAN, Volvo/Renault, Daimler, Iveco, and DAF was busted by the EU commission on Tuesday.

The truck makers colluded for 14 years on truck pricing and on passing the costs of compliance with stricter emission rules to the customer.

All companies, apart from MAN, were fined €2.9bn for breaking EU antitrust rules.

MAN ran over its competitors by ratting out the cartel to the commission and as a result avoided a fine of around €1.2bn. Volvo/Renault was fined €670.4m, Daimler €1bn, Iveco €494.6m and DAF €752.7m. All companies acknowledged their involvement and agreed to settle the case. Swedish truck manufacturer Scania is also under investigation but is not included in the settlement decision.

Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement prohibit cartels and other restrictive business practices.

There are over 30 million trucks in Europe, which account for around three quarters of inland transport of goods in Europe as well as play a vital role for the European economy, according to the commissioner for competition Margrethe Vestager.

“We have today put down a marker by imposing record fines for a serious infringement. It is not acceptable that MAN, Volvo/Renault, Daimler, Iveco and DAF, which together account for around nine out of every 10 medium and heavy trucks produced in Europe, were part of a cartel instead of competing with each other. This is also a clear message to companies that cartels are not accepted," said Vestager.

The commission’s investigation revealed that the truck companies had engaged in collusion on three areas from 1997 to 2011. Coordinating prices at “gross list” or factory level for medium and heavy trucks in the European Economic Area (EEA), the timing for the introduction of emission technologies required to comply with European emissions standard and the passing on of the cost of this on to customers. The commission however found that the collusion was not aimed at avoiding or manipulating compliance with the new emission standards.

There was no evidence of the cartel circumventing the antipollution system of some of their vehicles, commonly referred to as “defeat devices”.

The EU's decision underlines the importance of a functioning competitive market for fostering the EU’s strategy for low-emission mobility, according to the commission.

The companies involved received a 10% reduction in their fines after cooperating with the investigation.