A strange way of price-fixing

At the end of January, the European Commission (EC) announced that it is had begun conducting “unannounced inspections” – commonly known as dawn raids – at the European offices of the world’s leading tyremakers. The investigation intends to find out whether or not “the inspected companies may have violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices”. In the days immediately after that news broke, it quickly became apparent that (in alphabetical order) Bridgestone, Continental, Goodyear, Michelin, Nokian and Pirelli all received those visits. All the above companies issued statements denying the allegations and confirming that they are cooperation with the authorities. The EC’s announcement was short on detail and the investigated tyremakers are being understandably tight-lipped about the whole thing, which leaves significant questions about what the grounds for such an investigation were in the first place.