Four of the world’s largest truck manufacturers have paid a record $3.24 billion following an antitrust suit which claimed that the companies had been fixing prices for 14 years and dragging their feet on making improvements to trucks with pollution-reducing technologies.
Volvo/Renault, Daimler, Iveco, and DAF all admitted to their involvement in the cartel and settled for the record-breaking amount, twice the previous highest amount which was imposed back in 2012.
The fine was imposed by the European Union’s antitrust chief after a member of the cartel, MAN (owned by Volkswagen) came clean to authorities.
“It is not acceptable that MAN, Volvo/Renault, Daimler, Iveco, and DAF, which together account for around 9 out of every 10 medium and heavy trucks produced in Europe, were part of a cartel instead of competing with each other,” said the competition commissioner for the European Commission.
“For 14 years they colluded on the pricing and on passing on the costs for meeting environmental standards to customers.”
Daimler, maker of Freightliner trucks, was hit with the largest fine of just over $1.1 billion, another record-breaking fine. In a statement last week, Daimler said that it had already set aside 600 million Euro to pay the settlement, apparently not expecting for the fee to be so large.
All of the cartel members received reductions in their fines of as much as 50% for cooperation and helping to prove the existence of their own cartel.
Source: nytimes, truckinginfo, overdrive, europa, fortune, reuters
Red says
The worst part about reading this article is NOT being surprised or shocked. This kind of stuff is happening way too much these days but hopefully mega-fines like 3+ billion $$ will change that. In most of the previous cases like this, the small fine penalties were acting almost like a “tax” on corporate fraud and companies had this set aside and was basically treated like a “cost of doing business” expense. I guess the government finally caught on.
mark detter says
Sad thing is that these costs will be passed down to the consumer and trucking industries in the form of higher prices and lower wages.
Billy says
Yeah I’ll agree after being fined so heavily they will definitely make some changes but the next time you need a truck be ready to dig down deep in your damn pockets,because it’s going to cost you double and you can thank the government for all that extra money you had to come up with to buy your new pollutant free truck.
Crazy Cat says
Right. It’s the government’s fault. Not the companies.
who says
no, no, they have always been caught on to it. they upped the fine because the new it would be paid with out question. remember europe is just as broke as america. so the higher fines won’t do anything. other then tell the manufactures how much money they will need the next time to pay them off.
Jimmy says
At the end the government makes there money, the lawyers, and the manufacturer still kept their shareholders happy. How about giving that money back to the customer who bought the truck? Not to mention the tax the buyer paid on the purchase price…Did a mega fine really make a difference?
aaaacsnnuvk says
The colluded on “passing on the costs for meeting environmental standards to customers”. Where do you think ALL of the revenue to manufacturers is derived? ALL costs, profits, losses, etc. come “from the customer”. How long do you think a business would last if the massive cost of researching, developing and implementing government mandated safety and emission devices was to come out of their bottom line? For government to pay these costs, they would be passed on “to the taxpayer” (actually to our great grand-children and beyond, as it seems few governments on the planet are able to manage their affairs at all) and that would be unfair to those who don’t use or own medium or heavy trucks. The USERS are the people who should pay any and all costs of compliance, as they are the ones who benefit, and those users are called “customers” to the industry.
MrNA says
Who receives the monies ? That would be a real story. Probably not the end user. Just a way of disbursing bribes and kickbacks amongst corporations and government. EU my arse !
Cary says
I’m also curious who will get the money from any fines collected? I’m afraid it is just a big loop and the money they pay out will end up right back in their pockets down the line.
Tim says
All that real-life monopoly money isn’t anywhere near as precious as all those real-life get-out-of-jail-free cards those guys saved up over the years.
BitBucket says
Unlike Airbus, which is not a cartel and does not conspire to set prices. Oh wait…
Billy says
This article makes me sick if you really want to stop pollution start with these big smoking Dodge diesel’s running around in our own hometowns blowing smoke worse than any Sam I ever thought about and check out some of these Older semi trucks that have been custom tuned by other owners to suck that extra fuel down and make that power. Government don’t go after those people there’s no money to be sued over is there government
Kelly Downey says
You don’t understand how an engine really works do you. My higher horsepower truck driven correctly gets better mpg than your lower hp truck driven efficiently. Reason being I’m operating further from peak capacity instead of up against it. It takes 276 hp to pull 80k at 55 or 60 dont remembet which. Doesnt matter if the engine is 400 hp or 700 hp, going to use the same fuel. Proper tuning and removal of restrictioms increases efficiency not reduces it. Riddle me this, why does my truck that now produces the 150 more hp than when stock get 1.2 mpg better, if what you say is true. I have a 2002 DDEC IV at 600 hp 1700 torque area avg 8.2 on a dedicated route. When I did long hauls I got 8.35
tammy says
Well i feel that they should hire me to design a decent truck for truck drivers. The people who design these trucks probably have never lived in a truck for 10 years.
The trucks are way over priced and the truck starts to break down after 400,000 miles ( whats up with that ).
The average truck driver doesn’t make over $1,000.00 and that is driving all the dam time for months at a time and then when he/she does take a break thier to broke to enjoy time off due to paying a truck payment, house payment , car payment , fuel cost , permits ,tolls, eating at high priced truck stops. Chaps my ###.
Tony says
I wonder if the European CEOs of these truck manufacturers wear track suits to the office too.
Emery C. Mayoros IV says
Of course the mfgrs. pass the expense/cost to the folks. Does any human actually believe a business owner will willingly take a financial hit for gov’t’s mandates when the folks will pay?
A guy in the U.S. purchased a new trk., within the itemization of the bill there was a $7,000. “fee” notated to/for EPA.
Larry Giglio says
Hello. There is a future for electric vehicles, but they cannot have a diesel powering up the batteries; they (special interest lobbyists) have to unlock electric technologies. Train engines pollute so bad, sea shipping pollutes the worst, oil prices continue to drop- back off the damn air quality regulations until we can transition to electric self-generating power. Remember, these cartels are too big to fail.
Donna says
interesting that the article doesn’t say who’s getting those billions but I’d think it’s safe to assume the government…it should be given to customers