"The cartel" / German carmakers might face "wave of lawsuits"

Almost no other country hosts as many important car manufacturers side-by-side as Germany and, with about 800,000 employees nationwide, the industry “has an invaluable social responsibility”, Thomas Fromm writes in a commentary for Süddeutsche Zeitung. In order to stand out from their national competitors, German car brands have long sought to promote their uniqueness and “sell emotions alongside steel sheets and horsepower”, Fromm argues. “One has to bear in mind this strategy of distinction to comprehend why the latest allegations over forming a cartel strike the industry at its core,” he writes. If Germany’s most important carmakers have colluded to fix technology and costs since the 1990s, “they not only would have fooled their customers. They would also have ridiculed their precious brand-claims and thereby their company’s identity as well”.

Read the commentary in German here.  

Germany’s carmakers might face a wave of lawsuits after reports over possible collusion to fix costs and technology emerged last week, business newspaper Handelsblatt reports. Tens of thousands of customers might seek compensation for “possibly paying a much too high price” for their vehicles, estimates Klaus Müller, head of the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (vzbv). The European Commission and Germany’s Federal Cartel Authority are currently investigating whether the carmakers have broken the law by agreeing on suppliers and technological details of their exhaust gas treatment systems, the article says. The EU’s consumer protection commissioner Vera Jourova said “enabling class-action lawsuits will relieve our judiciary system. And it strengthens lost faith of Europeans in the rule of law”.     

Read the article in German here.

For more information, see the CLEW dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers.

Germany’s transport minister Alexander Dobrindt told magazine Focus that the Green Party’s plan to end the production of combustion engines by 2030 was “utter nonsense” because it would massively cost jobs in Germany’s core industrial sector. Organising the exchange of 45 million vehicles could not be done in a few years, he said. “The e-car is part of the future. If it is the sole future cannot be foreseen today.” Dobrindt also rejected calls to ban diesel cars in cities and announced a fund to create masterplans for modern mobility in cities, jointly financed by the government and carmakers.

Helmar Rendez, head of Lusatian energy company Leag, is opposed to phasing out lignite-fired power production to protect the climate, Jens Tartler writes in Der Tagesspiegel. “We need to let go of the illusion that Lusatia can save the world’s climate while China and India construct vast capacities of coal plants,” Rendez argued. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s recent remarks on a possible coal exit do not worry the energy manager since Merkel did not specify a possible exit year. Leag’s plan for the eastern German lignite mining region Lusatia included another 25 to 30 years of coal power, Rendez said. However, he conceded that building new coal plants would not be considered by anyone in the country.

See the CLEW factsheet When will Germany finally ditch coal? for more information.