Volvo in Price Scam

Swedish automaker Volvo has admitted fixing car prices in a practice condemned by investigating competition authorities as "disgraceful".

The Office of Fair Trading watching said that after a lengthy probe into inflated British car prices, it had forced Volvo's British subsidiary to admit to "cynically" colluding with dealers to push prices up.

"This is a disgraceful case," said John Bridgeman, director general of fair trading. "A major and well-respected car manufacturer colluded with dealers who were fixing prices, by penalising distributors who didn't toe the line."

"UK consumers have wondered why they pay such high prices for their cars, "Mr. Bridgeman said. "In the case of Volvo cars, the answer is now much clearer: the dealers secretly and cynically agreed to fix prices with the support of Volvo."

Volvo responded to the embarrassing revelation by saying that it was "horrified to learn that… a few of our staff got it wrong." But it refused to offer compensation to customers who paid over the odds for the vehicles concerned.

"Customers negotiated their deals in good faith and they were happy with what they got," the company said. "It's very difficult to prove if someone was disadvantaged."

"We were horrified to learn that in an isolated area, for a short period, approximately four years ago, a few of our staff got it wrong, " he said.

British consumers have ardently complained about car prices here, which are in some cases up to 40% higher than their equivalents in mainland Europe.

One recent media probe showed that a Volvo V70 car cost 1,700 ($2,650) less in Beelgium than in Britain.