The London Competition Appeal Tribunal has dismissed the €771 million (approximately $807.62 million) lawsuit filed by Stellantis against safety device manufacturers Autoliv and ZF/TRW. The automotive group accused the two companies of inflating prices of essential components such as seat belts, airbags, and steering wheels by exploiting an alleged dominant market position.
Stellantis’ accusation was based on the alleged abuse of a dominant position in the safety devices market
The case is part of a broader context of investigations conducted by the European Commission, which had already fined the two companies a total of €368.3 million in 2019. The investigation had confirmed the existence of illegal agreements in the sale of safety components to European and Japanese automakers. Specifically, Autoliv and TRW (acquired by ZF Friedrichshafen in 2014) were found guilty of price fixing and coordinating market strategies. A Japanese division of Autoliv was also involved in a parallel investigation for similar cartels in supplies to Japanese manufacturers.
However, in Friday’s written ruling, the London tribunal determined that Stellantis had not provided sufficient evidence to support its accusations. In particular, it was not convincingly demonstrated that the cartel practices had actually caused an artificial increase in prices for the automotive group’s purchases, at least not to the extent indicated in the lawsuit.
Autoliv and ZF/TRW emphasized that the European Commission’s investigations, conducted over several years with their full cooperation, did not show specific damages or particular targeting of Stellantis in the anti-competitive practices under investigation.