The auto industry is once again employing the European Commission. Even as antitrust investigations into diesel exhaust emissions are under way, Brussels is targeting several companies over a scandal over spare parts - and is also investigating possible antitrust violations.
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Affected are the five manufacturers Renault, PSA, Nissan, Jaguar Land Rover and Chrysler. With the help of the consulting firm Accenture, they are expected to achieve price increases of up to 25 percent and thus achieved a total profit of 2.6 billion euros in ten years, as SPIEGEL, as part of the research network European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) with its media partners, already last summer had reported. The manufacturers and Accenture deny the allegations.
According to new information, the European Commission launched the investigation in December 2018. She did not comment.
Competitors are based on the revelations of the research project Carleaks, which has been operating the EIC since 2018. The EIC partners had evaluated documents from the online newspaper "Mediapart" from a French court case and revealed how Accenture helped software manufacturers increase their prices. The companies are said to have sold their customers spare parts at inflated prices.
Price increase by up to 300 percent
Accenture is said to have coordinated the price increases with its software called Partneo. For this, the consulting firm created the programs between 2008 and 2013 for the automakers.
According to the documents, Accentures Software saw price increases of 20 to 300 percent for individual components. Thus, an algorithm filters out what car owners are willing to pay for spare parts. Otherwise the prices for spare parts are usually calculated with a multiplier on the production costs.
The data published in 2018 about the Accenture program already showed how much more the automakers earned thanks to the software: for example, the rearview mirror of the Renault Clio III was sold for 79 euros before the use of Partneo, although its production costs only ten euros - the Software doubled the price to 165 euros. The wheel cover of the Dacia Logan, which costs the manufacturer three euros, he sold for 21 euros. Partneo increased this price by 262 percent to 76 euros.
Documents show interest from Ford and VW
New documents show that about nine years ago, Accenture apparently also shared sensitive information with the manufacturer Ford. To convince Ford, Accenture is said to have unveiled the profits of three other vendors they had made with consultant software - revealing that one of them was Ford's Renault rival. This could have been a similarly delicate exchange of specific information about competitors as it might have been in discussions between Accenture and PSA.
After all, Ford did not buy the software, which confirms the company without giving any further details. In a written testimony, a court witness noted that the US automaker had introduced a price-raising methodology based on Accenture's program in Europe.
The Accenture consultants are also said to have tried in 2011 to organize a meeting with Volkswagen and PSA and Renault. Here, the managers should exchange about spare parts prices. A high-ranking former VW manager should have been interested in it. It is unclear whether the meeting took place in the end.
The interest in VW can be read off elsewhere: According to the documents financed the Wolfsburg car manufacturer between September and December 2011, a pilot test with Partneo for 1900 spare parts in Germany and the UK. In the end, VW decided for other methods. In addition, Volkswagen did not comment.
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