Scania, owned by German auto giant Volkswagen, was the only holdout in the European Union’s massive cartel case in which five other truck builders admitted to wrongdoing and jointly received a fine of €3 billion in 2016.

The European Commission then slapped a fine of €880.52 million on Scania in 2017.

The commission acts as the European Union’s powerful antitrust regulator.

The massive fines were the culmination of the commission’s investigation of a cartel it said lasted 14 years – between 1997 and 2011.

Scania challenged its fine in the EU courts but its efforts ended in vain today.

“Scania appealed against the judgement of the General Court to the Court of Justice, which today dismisses it in its entirety, thereby upholding the judgement of the General Court,” the Luxembourg-based top EU court said in a statement.

The General Court in 2022 had already dismissed Scania’s attempt to get the fine annulled but the manufacturer appealed that ruling.

The charge sheet against the companies included accusations of price-fixing and alleged the existence of a secret agreement by the companies to delay and then pass on the costs of anti-pollution technology to consumers.

The commission said at the time that the companies produced around 90% of all medium and heavy trucks sold in Europe.