Coventry car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover has been fined millions over its involvement in a pact with other manufactures which breached UK competition laws. JLR, along with nine other manufacturers and two trade bodies, agreed to not compete among themselves when advertising what percentage of their cars can be recycled.

BMW, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, Peugeot Citroen, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Renault, Toyota, Vauxhall and Volkswagen – and the two trade bodies, ACEA and the SMMT, have been fined a total of £77,688,917.

Following an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the organisations involved have admitted their involvement in the behaviour.

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Only Mercedes-Benz, which was also involved in these agreements, will not pay the financial penalty as it alerted the CMA to its participation via the authority’s leniency policy. The European Commission (EC) launched a parallel probe alongside the CMA in March 2022. The EC has today issued its own decision imposing fines for breaches of EU law.

Lucilia Falsarella Pereira, Senior Director of Competition Enforcement at the CMA, said: "Agreeing with competitors the prices you’ll pay for a service or colluding to restrict competition is illegal and this can extend to how you advertise your products. This kind of collusion can limit consumers’ ability to make informed choices and lower the incentive for companies to invest in new initiatives.

"Today’s fines show our commitment to taking action when competition law is broken. In accordance with our leniency policy, we’ve given discounts to those who came forward with information and co-operated at an early stage, which helps to get the swiftest outcomes.

More information regarding the matter can be found here.

"We recognise that competing businesses may want to work together to help the environment – in those cases our door is open to help them do so."

JLR, which has several sites in Coventry and the surrounding region, were fined just over £4.6m in total.

A Spokesman for the company said: "LR cooperated with both authorities throughout their investigations. We are committed to complying with competition law and have taken steps to further strengthen compliance."