In April, EU cartel regulators charged BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen for colluding to block the rollout of cleaner emissions technology between 2006 to 2014.

The European Commission said the collusion took place during technical meetings held by the "circle of five", namely BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen Group's VW, Audi and Porsche.

BMW had said it would contest the allegations "with all legal means if necessary", adding that it was probable the Commission would issue a "significant fine" and it would set aside a provision of likely more than 1 billion euros.

BMW was not immediately available for comment on the WirtschaftsWoche report.

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa; Editing by Tassilo Hummel & Shri Navaratnam)