Volkswagen Group sued by parts supplier accused of anti-competitiveness

According to Bloomberg News, on December 1, the Bosnian parts supplier Prevent Group filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Federal Court of Detroit, accusing Volkswagen Group of anti-competitive measures aimed at driving it out of the market and taking it in the media. slander.

(Image source: Bloomberg)

The dispute between Volkswagen and Prevent began in 2016. At that time, the two companies diverged due to the price of parts and components, and then Prevent’s two subsidiaries, Car Trim and ES Automobilguss, stopped supplying seat covers to Volkswagen And gearbox cast iron parts, causing Volkswagen to be forced to suspend production in six factories, affecting the work of approximately 28,000 employees.

Prevent claimed in a lawsuit against Volkswagen that since then, the company has been 'spotted' by Volkswagen. Volkswagen executives including Ralf Brandstaetter, the head of Volkswagen brand, initiated a project code-named 'Project 1' with the purpose of driving it out of the market.

Previously, it was reported that a special project team named Project 1 was monitored for a whole year, during which 50 hours of meeting recordings were leaked. It is reported that this special project team of Volkswagen was built to terminate cooperation with Prevent. The task of this team is to evaluate the possibility of termination of cooperation between Volkswagen and Prevent and try to transfer the company's car seat contract to other suppliers.

Prevent executives stated that Volkswagen’s 'retaliatory' actions against the company included intervening in its acquisition, hiring private investigators to secretly monitor Prevent executives, creating negative news about them, and trying to persuade Adient and Li Parts suppliers such as Lear refused to use Prevent products.

Prevent stated that its original intention of initiating the lawsuit was to warn other parts suppliers and reveal the consequences if they violated Volkswagen’s anti-competitive terms and prices.

In response to the lawsuit filed by Prevent, the Volkswagen Group responded, “The lawsuit is groundless. We believe that this lawsuit is just the latest attempt by Prevent in a dispute over many years. In Germany, Prevent has repeatedly Lost in court.'

In the automotive industry, public quarrels between automakers and component suppliers over price negotiations and orders are extremely rare. The two should cooperate smoothly to ensure orderly production. Prevent is led by the family of businessmen Nijaz Hastor, and Hastor has spent decades expanding the company's business in the automotive industry. After the son of Hastor took over the company, he adopted a more radical business style, which included a hostile acquisition of Grammer, a German seat manufacturer, but the transaction ended in failure.