The European Union fined four major German car manufacturers one billion US dollars in fines because they colluded to limit the development and rollout of car emission control systems.
The European Commission said Daimler, BMW, VW, Audi and Porsche avoided competing on technology to restrict pollution from petrol and diesel passenger cars.
Daimler was not fined after it revealed the cartel to the European Commission.
EU anti-trust chief Margrethe Vestager said that even though the companies had the technology to cut cut harmful emissions beyond legal limits, they avoided to compete and denied consumers the chance to buy less polluting cars.
