The Competition Board concluded the preliminary inquiry conducted in response to the claim that Audi, Porsche, Volkswagen,  Mercedes-Benz and BMW, which are established in Germany and which are also called “the Circle of Five”, violated article 4 of the Act no 4054 by means of coordinating, through working groups, with regard to the development and manufacturing of components; product features, innovation, environment and security technologies including exhaust treatment and emission standards; certificates and standards and the timing of roll-out of those in the market for passenger cars including vans.

After discussing the information, documents acquired and observations made in the preliminary inquiry in its meeting of 11.06.2020, the Competition Board concluded that the findings concerning the following claims were significant and sufficient: under the scope of the cooperation for security between the Circle of Five, the maximum speed at which adaptive cruise control can work and the maximum speed at which roofs can be opened and closed was set; within the scope of the cooperation for environment, the use of petrol particulate filter was prevented and its roll-out was delayed, competition sensitive information regarding SCR technology (SCR software and dosing strategy including certification and cost elements) were shared and the size of AdBlue tank was determined. The Board took the decision numbered 20-28/346-M that an investigation concerning the following undertakings shall be initiated to find whether article 4 of the Act no 4054 was violated within the scope of the said claims and whether the alleged practices created effects in Turkey:

• Audi AG,
• Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG,
• Volkswagen AG,
• Mercedes-Benz AG
• Bayerische Motoren Werke AG

Those announcements are made within the framework of informing the public about the decisions of the Competition Board and cannot be interpreted to mean that the undertakings or associations of undertakings about which an investigation has been initiated have violated the Act no 4054, or they are or will be subject to penal sanctions under the Act.