The company also stresses none of its cars use a defeat device.
BMW has denied forming a cartel with Audi, Volkswagen, Porsche, and Mercedes-Benz to fix the price of diesel emissions treatment systems.
The allegations were first reported last week by German newspaper Der Spiegel. They claim top employees from the five brands have been meeting regularly since the 1990s, and that they’ve all agreed to use smaller AdBlue tanks in a bid to save money. BMW concedes talks were held, but it explains they weren’t part of a massive scheme to fool regulators worldwide.
“The objective of the discussions with other manufacturers concerning AdBlue tanks was the installation of the required tanking infrastructure in Europe,” the company said in a statement. It didn’t reveal whether or not the talks are still on-going.
In the same statement, BMW announced plans to recall every diesel-powered, Euro 5-era model registered in Europe. Entirely voluntary, the campaign will draw upon “knowledge gained in the field over the last years to realize further improvements in emissions.” It affects vehicles built between 2009 and 2014, though whether it will expand to the United States is up in the air.
