Daimler

Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, is reportedly looking at a massive fine due to the use of emissions testing defeat devices on a number of its most popular vehicles. According to Der Spiegel, prosecutors in Stuttgart, Germany, are planning to fine the automaker between €800 million and €1 billion ($1.3 and $1.6 billion).

Ola Källenius, who steps into the position of Daimler CEO from May 22, has laid out his Ambition2039 environmental plan for the automaker. According to Källenius, the company sees the "Paris Agreement [on climate change] is more than an obligation – it’s our conviction". As such, Mercedes-Benz is aiming to have plug-in hybrid or pure-electric vehicles constitute over 50% of its car sales by 2030.

According to an investigation by the EU's anti-trust regulator, BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen worked together between 2006 and 2014 to stymie competition in developing emissions cleaning technology. The so-called "circle of five", which included engineers from Audi and Porsche, are said to have "coordinated their AdBlue dosing strategies, AdBlue tank size and refill ranges ... with the common understanding that they thereby limited AdBlue-consumption and exhaust gas cleaning effectiveness".

BMW and Mercedes-Benz are the second pair of automakers to confirm a partnership this week, after Ford and Volkswagen announced they will work together on utes and vans. The companies announced their intent to combine mobility divisions last year, but approval from anti-trust regulators has only just come through. Daimler, parent of Mercedes-Benz and Smart, and BMW expect to complete dotting their Is and crossing their Ts for the new 50/50 joint venture by the end of month.

The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance and Daimler, parent of Mercedes-Benz and Smart, may expand the scope of their collaboration to include electric drivetrain and self-driving car technology development.