Inside Europe’s car cartel and the secret talks to align on toxic emissions
Major carmakers discussed designing vehicles that emitted more toxic emissions than necessary, years earlier than EU regulators believed. One internal email, seen by Follow the Money, bluntly stated: “No one wants to report the true motivation … to the authorities.”
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Germany’s biggest carmakers might have coordinated their emissions strategies years before authorities found they had begun their cartel, emails shared with Follow the Money suggest.
Back in 2021, the European Commission had reached a settlement with BMW, Volkswagen, and DaimlerChrysler, agreeing that the three carmakers had colluded to limit how well their diesel cars cut toxic emissions. The EU executive found the illegal activities took place between 2009 and 2014 – and slapped a €875 million fine on the companies.
The timespan mattered for deciding the size of the antitrust fines.
“Everyone has reaffirmed that a solo effort at this point is to everyone’s disadvantage”
Now, documents seen by Follow the Money show the companies were already discussing seemingly related issues in detail as early as 2006 – which is also when the Commission initially suspected the companies had started coordinating their strategies, but which it ultimately said it couldn’t prove. The freshly-revealed emails uncover how carmakers were coordinating on emissions technology capable of sharply reducing pollution, but which posed engineering and consumer trade-offs they were reluctant to embrace.
“Everyone has reaffirmed that a solo effort [by one car manufacturer] at this point is to everyone’s disadvantage,” reads one Volkswagen email from October 2006.
Public access to such internal communications is rare. Follow the Money obtained the emails after they were filed as evidence in ongoing litigation at London’s High Court of Justice.
In that case, five carmakers are currently facing trial brought by a group representing 1.6 million claimants, who own diesel cars they say contain illegal software to cheat emissions tests. The case does not concern whether the cartel existed – that has already been established by EU regulators.
The cartel fallout followed another scandal – often referred to as Dieselgate – that involved widespread emissions cheating that was uncovered in 2015. During that scandal, Volkswagen admitted to U.S. authorities that it had installed so-called defeat devices in its diesel cars. These software programmes changed the behaviour of the car in such a way that it recognised it was being tested and cleaned the emissions better than during normal driving.
The Volkswagen Group had equipped millions of diesel cars with these devices and paid billions in fines and settlements in the U.S. and Europe. Other carmakers like Hyundai and Stellantis also had their cars adapt emissions behaviour depending on whether they were in an environment that resembled a test laboratory, or normal driving.
Big tank, small tank
The discussions in the released emails centred on a technology called Selective Catalytic Reduction, which reduces harmful nitrogen oxide emissions by injecting a fluid known as urea into exhaust gases.
The system requires a urea tank. A larger tank can be difficult to fit into smaller vehicles, which dominate European city markets. A smaller tank, meanwhile, requires more frequent refilling by consumers – something manufacturers feared would put off buyers. To be able to install a small tank without asking owners to refill too often, carmakers decided to reduce the amount of fluid injected into exhaust systems, known as “dosing”.
The emails suggest carmakers were aware that whichever option they selected would need careful justification to regulators.
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