European Union antitrust regulators slapped Swedish truck-maker Scania yesterday with an 880 million-euro ($1.03 billion) fine for price fixing. EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who polices competition, said that Scania had colluded with five other heavy vehicle makers for 14 years to fix truck prices.

"Instead of colluding on pricing, the truck manufacturers should have been competing against each other - also on environmental improvements," Vestager said. The EU had settled with the MAN, DAF, Daimler, Iveco and Volvo/Renault on the cartel case last year, but Scania refused to cooperate. It says the company could have qualified for leniency if it had helped investigators. Scania maintained its innocence and said it would likely appeal.

"We have not made any agreement with other constructors regarding pricing and we have also delayed the introduction of new engines that meet EU legislation on exhaust emissions," Scania spokeswoman Karin Hallstan told Sweden's TT news agency.' She added Scania needs time "to review this in its entirety, but if no significant new information has appeared in the investigation, we plan to appeal."