The European Commission has fined MAN, Volvo/Renault, Daimler, Iveco and DAF EUR 2.93 million for coordinating prices at “gross lists” level for medium and heavy trucks in the European Economic Area during a period of fourteen years.
The “gross list” price level relates to the factory price of trucks. The final price paid by consumer is then based on further adjustments applied to these gross list prices. The cartel also coordinated the timing for the introduction of emission technologies to comply with the Euro III to Euro VI environmental standards. Moreover, the cartelists also passed on to customers the costs of the emissions technologies.
The Commission stated that road haulage is an essential part of the European transport sector and that these truck manufactures together account
for around 9 out of 10 medium and heavy trucks produced in Europe.
The fines were set on the basis of the Commission’s 2006 Guidelines on fines, taking into account the respective companies’ turnover, the seriousness of the infringement, the combined market share, the geographic scope and the duration of the cartel.
Under the Commission’s 2006 Leniency Notice, MAN received full immunity for revealing the existence of the cartel and Volvo/Renault, Daimler
and Iveco benefited from reductions on their fines for cooperating with the investigation. Lastly, these five companies were also granted a reduction of 10% in view of the parties’ acknowledgment of their participation in the cartel and of their liability in this respect.
Scania was also investigated in the framework of this infringement but decided not to settle, therefore the investigation will continue under standard (nonsettlement) cartel procedure for this company.
