1st Apr 2025 17:57
(Alliance News) - Ten major car manufacturers and two trade bodies have been fined nearly GBP78 million by the UK's Competition & Markets Authority after admitting to breaking competition law over vehicle recycling and green advertising claims.
The manufacturers – BMW AG, Ford Motor Co, Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC, Stellantis NV-owned Peugeot Citroen Automobiles SA and Vauxhall Motors Ltd, Mitsubishi Corp, Nissan Motor Co, Renault SA, Toyota Motor Corp, and Volkswagen AG - as well as the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, or ACEA, and the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders, SMMT, were found to have colluded in two separate illegal arrangements.
The first involved an agreement not to advertise how recyclable their vehicles were beyond the legally required 85%, even if their cars exceeded that threshold. With the exception of Renault, the manufacturers also agreed not to disclose the percentage of recycled materials used in their cars.
According to the CMA, this "gentleman's agreement" stifled competition and misled consumers, who were prevented from comparing environmental and green credentials when buying a car.
The second infringement involved a so-called buyers' cartel, in which the manufacturers collectively agreed not to pay companies to recycle end-of-life vehicles. This practice, spanning 14 years until 2018, limited the ability of recycling providers to negotiate fair prices and potentially reduced investment in greener technologies.
While all 12 parties have admitted to the breaches and agreed to pay fines totalling GBP77.7 million, Mercedes-Benz Group AG, also involved in both arrangements, received immunity from fines for reporting the conduct to the regulator.
CMA Senior Director of Competition Enforcement Lucilia Falsarella Pereira said: "Agreeing with competitors the prices you’ll pay for a service or colluding to restrict competition is illegal… This kind of collusion can limit consumers' ability to make informed choices and lower the incentive for companies to invest in new initiatives."
The European Commission has issued parallel fines under EU law following its own investigation launched in March 2022.
The companies have until June 2 to pay their penalties, though some received significant reductions under the Competition & Markets Authority's leniency and settlement policies.
Stellantis - which now owns Peugeot, Citroen, Vauxhall and Opel – along with Mitsubishi and the SMMT, approached the regulator voluntarily and were granted fine reductions of up to 45% in some cases. Companies that admitted wrongdoing and cooperated early also received 20% discounts.
Ford received the highest fine at GBP18.5 million, including GBP12.9 million for the advertising infringement and GBP5.6 million for participating in the buyers' cartel. Volkswagen followed with a GBP14.8 million total penalty. BMW was fined GBP11.1 million, while Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan, Toyota and Renault also faced multi-million-pound fines.
Although the CMA acknowledged the importance of industry cooperation on sustainability, it stressed that such efforts must not involve anti-competitive conduct. "We recognise that competing businesses may want to work together to help the environment - in those cases our door is open to help them do so," said Falsarella Pereira.
By Eva Castanedo, Alliance News reporter
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