German carmakers faced a brewing scandal this week as suspicions grew they colluded illegally for decades, further damaging the industry’s image and exposing it to massive financial risks.
The sculpture “Inspiration 911”, showing three Porsche 911 sports cars from different generations, is seen in front of the headquarters of German carmaker Porsche AG in Stuttgart, southwestern Germany, on February 24, 2017 AFP

The sculpture “Inspiration 911”, showing three Porsche 911 sports cars from different generations, is seen in front of the headquarters of German carmaker Porsche AG in Stuttgart, southwestern Germany, on February 24, 2017 AFP

News weekly Der Spiegel reported Friday that German carmakers Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, BMW and Daimler secretly worked together from the 1990s on car development, construction and logistics — including how to meet increasingly tough diesel emissions criteria.

Both buyers and suppliers of the auto giants suffered from the under-the-table deals, the magazine alleged.

For the world’s largest carmaker Volkswagen, the diesel emissions scandal alone has already cost tens of billions of euros since 2015.

The Wolfsburg-based firm, along with Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler, was among the first to hand over details of the alleged broader collusion between the five firms to competition authorities, reported Spiegel, saying it had seen a relevant VW document.

Regulators often treat the first company to report such infringements more leniently than the rest.

And Daimler has experience: it suffered a billion-euro fine from Brussels last summer for fixing truck prices with competitors.

In theory, the European Commission or Germany’s federal competition authority could fine firms 10% of annual revenue — or close to €50bn across all five car companies, based on 2016 sales.

On top of that would come individual claims from customers, possibly numbering tens of thousands of euros.