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German Court Orders MAN, Daimler Truck to Compensate Customers in Price-Fixing Case

By  |  October 22, 2026
Germany

A German court has ordered Volkswagen’s MAN truck division and Daimler Truck to compensate customers in a dispute involving alleged price-fixing practices, according to an Oct. 21 report by MT Newswires published on MarketScreener. The decision represents another legal setback for major European truck manufacturers facing claims related to competition in the commercial vehicle industry.

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    The ruling concerns allegations that pricing arrangements among truck manufacturers harmed customers, according to the report. The decision could carry financial implications for the companies, although the amount of compensation and the number of customers covered could not be established from the publicly accessible report.

    The Munich Regional Court determined that MAN must reimburse eligible buyers 5% of the net purchase price for heavy-duty trucks and 1% for medium-duty vehicles. For Daimler trucks, the corresponding rates were set at 3.7% and 4.2%, according to an Oct. 21 court statement.

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    The decisions involve lawsuits filed by two construction-sector companies that purchased trucks between 1997 and 2009. The court rejected one claim involving a vehicle purchased in 1997, finding insufficient grounds to conclude that the buyer had suffered losses linked to the cartel.

    The judgments are not yet legally final, leaving open the possibility of further proceedings, according to the court.

    The cases stem from a European Union antitrust investigation into coordination of truck prices between 1997 and 2011. European regulators imposed penalties totaling approximately 2.93 billion euros on several manufacturers in 2016, while Volkswagen-owned Scania received a separate fine of 880.5 million euros in 2017, according to Bloomberg News reporting published by Transport Topics.

    In calculating the compensation, Munich judges relied on economic assessments commissioned from two competition specialists. Their statistical analysis examined the relationship between manufacturers’ pricing practices and the amounts customers paid. The court concluded that the experts’ methodology provided a reasonable basis for estimating the financial harm.

    The findings could influence other claims against European truck manufacturers, although the compensation rates do not automatically apply to every purchaser involved in the wider litigation.

    Daimler Truck said it would examine the written judgments, while MAN indicated it could not comment before reviewing them, according to Bloomberg’s report.

    Source: MarketScreener