Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler spent years illegally colluding to slow the deployment of cleaner emissions technology, says the European Union, which is dishing out fines as a result.
The EU’s executive branch hit the Volkswagen Group (which owns Audi and Porsche) and BMW with a collective €875 million ($1 billion) fine on Thursday for their role in the scheme. Volkswagen Group must pay €502 million ($595 million), while BMW will pay €373 million ($442 million). Daimler, however, evaded a €727 million fine of its own because the automaker revealed the collusion to the regulators.
The scheme described by EU authorities is separate from the Volkswagen Group’s massive Dieselgate scandal, in which…
