Press Release: Antitrust: Commission fines car parts producers € 137 789 000 in cartel settlement

On 27 January 2016 the European Commission imposed fines of € 137 789 000 on Melco (Mitsubishi Electric) and Hitachi for participating in a cartel for alternators and starters with another firm, Denso, in breach of European Union antitrust rules.

For more than five years, the three Japanese car parts manufacturers coordinated prices and allocated customers or projects with regards to alternators and starters, two important components of car engines. The Commission's investigation revealed that between September 2004 and February 2010 the companies met at each other's offices and in restaurants and were in contact over the phone on a regular basis, in order to limit competition between them.

The fines were set on the basis of the Commission's 2006 Guidelines on fines.