German automakers' shares fall on diesel emissions concerns


              FILE - In this Wednesday, March 15, 2017 file photo, the four ring logo of German car producer Audi is photographed at the headquarters after the annual press conference in Ingolstadt, Germany. German automaker Audi says it will fit up to 850,000 diesel cars with new software to improve their emissions performance, following a similar move by rival Daimler as the auto industry tries to get ahead of public controversy over the technology. Audi, the luxury brand of the Volkswagen Group, announced the voluntary retrofitting program on Friday, July 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, file)
FILE - In this Wednesday, March 15, 2017 file photo, the four ring logo of German car producer Audi is photographed at the headquarters after the annual press conference in Ingolstadt, Germany. German automaker Audi says it will fit up to 850,000 diesel cars with new software to improve their emissions performance, following a similar move by rival Daimler as the auto industry tries to get ahead of public controversy over the technology. Audi, the luxury brand of the Volkswagen Group, announced the voluntary retrofitting program on Friday, July 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, file)

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - The German auto industry's troubles over excessive diesel emissions are looming larger.

Shares in the three biggest German automakers fell Monday after a newsmagazine report claimed they had colluded for years over diesel technology.

BMW was off 2.3 percent, Daimler 3.4 percent and Volkswagen 2.5 percent. Shares also fell Friday after Der Spiegel published its findings online.

Spiegel reported that company employees from Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Porsche had met often since the 1990s and had agreed to limit the size of the tanks holding a urea solution used to reduce diesel emissions.

BMW issued a statement denying that its urea tanks were too small to provide adequate exhaust treatment and said its vehicles' emissions met legal requirements.

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