VW Group, BMW and Daimler Are Under Investigation For Collusion In Europe (cnet.com)

The European Commission has launched an antitrust investigation into the Volkswagen Group, BMW and Daimler, over allegations they colluded to keep certain emissions control devices from reaching the market in Europe, according to a statement the Commission released on Tuesday. CNET reports: The technologies the group allegedly sought to bury include a selective catalytic reduction system for diesel vehicles, which would help to reduce environmentally problematic oxides of nitrogen in passenger cars, and "Otto" particulate filters that trap particulate matter from gasoline combustion engines.

"The Commission is investigating whether BMW, Daimler and VW agreed not to compete against each other on the development and roll-out of important systems to reduce harmful emissions from petrol and diesel passenger cars," said Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, head of competition policy for the European Commission, in a statement. "These technologies aim at making passenger cars less damaging to the environment. If proven, this collusion may have denied consumers the opportunity to buy less polluting cars, despite the technology being available to the manufacturers."

Comments

Re:Nobody wants underpowered fart boxes

[Anonymous Coward]

Nobody wants these underpowered 1L engines that they try to compensate for by putting in a turbocharger. What they don't like to tell you is when your turbo or your intercooler shit itself is you're stuck with a $4000 repair bill. Then on top of that, they want to attach all sorts of non sense to the exhaust system. I don't blame these guys for going, "We're not going to develop this crap, our customers don't want it anyways."

There is a considerable difference between emissions control systems and a turbo or supercharger when it comes to performance and purpose.

So much so that it tends to make your entire comment pointless.

Re:People deride Elon Musk and Tesla...

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

In August more Model 3 were sold than Altima, Accent, Legacy, Impreza, Sentra, Focus, the Fiats, Chryslers, ....all these "affordable" middle class cars. Of course it also outsold all BMW cars combined, all Lexus cars combined, all MB cars combined, so it is definitely breaking out of the luxury, high end markets and reaching outside.

Only Accord, Civic, Corolla and Camry outsold Model 3 in August. It is not a 1% 's car. More like 2%'s car. Very few outside the 5% buy brand new cars. 95% of Americans buy used vehicles. 90% of the Americans are driving used vehicles they bought below 20K.

Model S and X can be legitimately called 1%'s car. But Model 3 is affordable for about 30% of the people who buy new cars. https://cleantechnica.com/2018...