We have looked at the Auto Industry on a few occasions here in Financial Regulation Matters , with posts ranging from industry reorganisation with Peugeot’s purchase of Opel-Vauxhall , the increasing securitisation of auto finance packages , to corruption within the industry . Today, we will review the latest demonstration of an ever-tightening marketplace by looking at the news that Geely Automotive, a significant player in the Chinese electric vehicle market , has recently invested $9 billion for a 9.7%, and largest stake in German automotive powerhouse Daimler . There have been some concerns raised as to the potential effects of the deal, so whilst we shall be focusing upon those, we will also look at the sentiment that this news provides for the direction of the automotive industry. Geely’s purchase of the Daimler shares, making it the largest shareholder, comes on the back of a concerted wave of action by Chinese automotive companies outside of Chinese markets. Geely is the...

Today’s post reacts to the news that BMW, the famous German auto-manufacturer, has been raided by the European Commission’s (EC) antitrust division as part of an investigation into collusion between the largest German auto-manufacturers. In this post, the focus will be on the details of the investigation, as far as we can know at this very early stage, and then on contextualising that against the larger picture for auto-manufacturers. Ultimately, although operating in opposition to the supposed ideals of the marketplace i.e. private and independent business, the reality of the situation is that in this particular industry collusion is rife, and arguably necessary – depending upon one’s position. The EC raided BMW’s Munich offices last week in the latest development of an investigation into collusion between the largest German auto-manufacturers. The investigation, which began earlier this year, is based upon the allegations that ‘ Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, and Daimler has for year...