Competition record
NTN
Deep profile · 1 linked library matter
NTN is a Japanese bearings maker that sells ball and roller bearings to the car industry. The European Commission fined an automotive-bearings cartel that included NTN, Schaeffler, SKF, and JTEKT.
Overview
NTN Corporation makes bearings in Japan and in plants that supply customers abroad. A bearing is the part that lets a shaft turn: wheel hubs, gearboxes, engines. Carmakers and their large suppliers buy them on quotes that run for a model year's production, not as a one-off hardware-store purchase.
The Commission fined NTN in a cartel with Schaeffler, SKF, and JTEKT. The conduct was coordination on those automotive bearings. A Japanese supplier quoting a European car plant was not pricing in a vacuum if rivals already knew the shape of the quote. This profile states no fine amount.
The library status is fined. NTN remains a bearings manufacturer. The competitive stake is the price buried in a car, and in the replacement parts trade, for a component the driver never sees.
Competition footprint
Automotive quotes, rather than the whole of NTN's industrial catalog, are the cartel product.
JTEKT, Schaeffler, and SKF are the other makers named with NTN in this decision.
Bearings are specified into a vehicle platform, so a coordinated quote can last as long as that platform does.
Consumer & business angle
A carmaker's purchasing team is the direct victim when bearing suppliers align their bids.
The driver meets the cost, if at all, as a few euros inside the price of the car or a later repair.
What to watch
- Follow-on damages suits by vehicle manufacturers that bought bearings in Europe.
- Quote procedures at car plants where NTN still bids against Schaeffler, SKF, and JTEKT.
Markets
automotive bearings · ball and roller bearings · vehicle components
Also known as: ntn corporation, ntn bearings