VW Group, BMW and Daimler are under investigation for collusion in Europe

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/vw-daimler-bmw-european-commission-antitrust/

by beerlord • 8 years ago

16 5 8 years ago

I don't really get the charges here. No manufactorer competes on how environmently clean their cars are, as most consumers don't care beyond fuel efficiency. As such there's no real point for manufacturers to glue on more emissions equipment once government standards are reached; if this upsets the government than make standards stricter.

I vaguely remember some collusion accusations over inflated AdBlue prices, though I'm not sure how you're supposed to get a supply/demand thing going on there if the government requires consumers to buy diseal additives.

mikestew2• 8 years ago

Reading the comments first, but haven't gotten to the article, but this part of your comment stands out: though I'm not sure how you're supposed to get a supply/demand thing going on there if the government requires consumers to buy diseal additives

I don't understand. I am "required" to buy gasoline to fuel my ICE car, but there appears to be at least some competition in the fuel market. How does this change for the blue stuff I put in my diesel RV?

That said, though I've yet to fill the blue tank on the recently-purchased RV, the stuff doesn't appear to be all that expensive to fill a four gallon tank. In light of your comment, should I assume the stuff used to be more expensive and perhaps evidence of collusion?

tomatotomato372• 8 years ago

Doing more research on this it seems like the accusations were the result of a game of news article telephone rather than the actual accusations, though I did find an article[0] that cites a german article[1] that references price control.

As for the fuel market, I don't think its exactly a healthy supply/demand system either due to the necessity of car ownership in certain parts of the world; hence why OPEC is able to fuck with the market so much. It's better in that a car can use fuel from multiple sources though, where in the case of these emissions systems it seems you can only use a certain mixture for their cars, who's patent is owned by a german automobile interest group.

[0] https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/bmw-vw-daimler-colluded-t...

[1] http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/vw-bmw-daimler-...

mikestew2• 8 years ago

"These technologies aim at making passenger cars less damaging to the environment."

...all for the low, low price of an additional $1200/vehicle. I don't know that, but I know it won't be free. Before we break out the gallows, I want to hear a cost estimate per vehicle for this "carburetor that runs on water that the oil companies won't let us have" (to reference an old conspiracy). Because even if the exhaust air is cleaner than the air going into the intake, it doesn't do anyone any good if no one can afford it.

tonyjstark• 8 years ago

I’m pretty sure being able to afford shouldn’t be the issue for buyers of premium brand cars like BMW and Mercedes-Benz. If it is, the buyers should really reconsider their life choices.

But let’s see first if they colluded. If then hopefully proper penalties are applied, I have the feeling car companies are rather softly handled by the EU...

VW Group, BMW and Daimler are under investigation for collusion in Europe

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