Ten carmakers and two industry groups have been fined almost £78 million by the UK regulator for “colluding to restrict competition” over vehicle recycling.
It is part of a wider crackdown with the EU’s antitrust watchdog simultaneously imposing penalties worth a combined 458 million euro (£383 million).
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the firms broke the law because they agreed not to compete with each other when advertising what percentage of their cars can be recycled.
Apart from Renault, the carmakers also agreed not to share information with customers about the proportion of recycled material used in their vehicles.
This meant customers could not fully compare the green credentials of cars when choosing which one to buy, which could have affected their choice.
By preventing buyers from considering recycling information, it lowers the incentive for carmakers to invest in eco-friendly initiatives and go beyond legal requirements, according to the watchdog.
The manufacturers that have reached a settlement with the CMA are BMW, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, Peugeot Citroen, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Renault, Toyota, Vauxhall and Volkswagen.
The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (Acea) and the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) were also involved in the illegal agreements.
The combined settlements total £77.7 million, with Ford facing an £18.5 million fine and BMW being hit with an £11.1 million penalty.
Mercedes-Benz was involved in the agreements but was not fined because it reported it to the watchdog.
Lucilia Falsarella Pereira, senior director of competition enforcement at the CMA, said: “Agreeing with competitors the prices you’ll pay for a service or colluding to restrict competition is illegal and this can extend to how you advertise your products.
“This kind of collusion can limit consumers’ ability to make informed choices and lower the incentive for companies to invest in new initiatives.
“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.”
Furthermore, the CMA found that eight manufacturers – BMW, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Peugeot Citroen, Renault, Toyota, Vauxhall and Volkswagen – agreed among themselves that they would not pay companies to handle the recycling of so-called “end-of-life vehicles”.
These vehicles are old or written-off and have no or negative market value, with the recycling service regularly outsourced to third parties.
But for a 14-year period, companies providing the service were effectively unable to negotiate a price with manufacturers, the CMA said.
