[Lockbox]

With the cost of developing new engines, transmissions, etc it makes sense for car companies to partner up for joint development. The car companies face a common target from Governments, so it makes sense to partner up for a common solution.

Another example is a work done to agree on a standard plug for the charging electrical cord for plug in hybrids.

It maybe that the Germans did not use the proper legal form of joint venture / partnerships to address these issues.

[discostu]

The biggest 2 problems here are they did it in secret, and they standardized a lot of weird stuff that really has nothing to do with problem solving. Open standards boards exist in a lot of tech but they work with open minutes so everybody knows what they’re up to, that way it’s problem solving not collusion. And deciding the speed of sunroof opening is just way outside the scope for any open standard board.