Bosch or Germany-related cart company cartel monopoly companies have been sued in the United States

According to the German "Mirror Weekly" report, Volkswagen pointed out in a document submitted to the German Cartel Bureau that there may be collusion between German car manufacturers and supplier Bosch.

The "Der Spiegel" pointed out that the documents received this week were the seventh anti-competitive documents received by the anti-monopoly department since June 2016. On July 28th, “Der Spiegel” stated on its official website that in the documents received by the Cartel Bureau, Bosch was accused of designing a “dose” strategy to help car companies reduce the consumption of AdBlue diesel emission filter fluid. In the document, Volkswagen pointed out that about 60 working groups of Daimler, Volkswagen and BMW have made joint decisions since the 1990s. Only in the past five years, the above three car companies will face more than 1,000 times.

In response to this complaint, Bosch pointed out that "all current information comes from the media and has not yet received requests from Germany or the European Union's antimonopoly regulatory authorities. Since the incident is under investigation, we do not understand the details and therefore cannot respond. ."

At present, the EU and German antitrust supervision departments are investigating whether the public, Porsche, Audi, BMW and Daimler have held secret meetings to discuss suppliers, prices and standards.

Reuters pointed out that it is normal for suppliers and car companies to discuss the application of new technologies or environmental protection measures. However, if such discussions are aimed at undermining the interests of other competitors, they should be taken as a separate matter and even suspected of violating the law.

On July 25, Reuters quoted sources as saying that Daimler first reported a monopoly to the Cartel, so the group is very likely to obtain immunity. At present, the public has not commented on the reports submitted by the public.

German monopoly was sued twice in the United States

The German car companies and parts suppliers suspected of cartel monopoly behavior have not only been investigated by the domestic and EU regulatory authorities, but have also been involved in litigation disputes in the United States.

According to a Bloomberg report, on July 28th, major German car companies encountered complaints in the San Francisco Federal Court. The complaint pointed out that from 1996 to 2015 (even after 2015), BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen Group, and its Audi and Porsche brands, in the form of cartels, shared competition information on automotive technologies with each other. , Limiting the pace of technological development and inhibiting industry competition, thus violating antitrust laws. The U.S. complaint against German car companies is bound to expand the scope of the monopoly scandal to the German auto industry.

According to reports, this lawsuit is a class action on behalf of the owner. According to the lawsuit, the above-mentioned car companies agreed to limit the development of vehicle systems, including vehicle emission control systems, which caused the public to use “cheat software” in emission testing. At the same time, as a supplier of popular cheating software, Bosch has also become one of the defendants in this lawsuit.

In addition to the vehicle emission control system, the plaintiffs also stated that the entire vehicle R&D, brake system, and electronic systems were included in the list of “technological innovation suppression”.

The complaint states that “the defendant confirmed in a confidential meeting that key suppliers such as Bosch provided specific products, and that unselected suppliers also suffered losses because they did not join the market.”

In response to a collective complaint in the United States, Daimler spokesperson Han Tjan said in an e-mail statement, “We believe that this class action lawsuit lacks basis and we will use legal means to protect ourselves as much as possible.” On July 28, BMW spoke Kenn Sparks and Volkswagen spokesman Jeannine Ginivan refused to respond to the incident. As of press time, other companies involved have not yet responded.

According to reports, the lawsuit of the San Francisco court on July 28 was the second complaint filed by the United States against German auto companies against alleged anti-competition. On July 25, a similar lawsuit took place in the federal court of New Jersey. The lawsuit stated that German car companies created an anti-competitive cultural atmosphere in the United States and conspired for more than 20 years to increase the price of luxury cars and share technology to avoid emission standards. The New Jersey lawsuit also used BMW, Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Bentley, Daimler, and Mercedes Benz as defendants. Bosch also was used as an accomplice to develop cheating software.