BRUSSELS, April 1 (Reuters) - Volkswagen,

Stellantis ( STLA ), 13 other carmakers and their car

association were fined a total of 458 million euros ($495

million) by EU antitrust regulators on Tuesday for taking part

in a vehicle recycling cartel.

The European Commission, which raided the companies three

years ago, said the cartel, which involved end-of-life vehicles,

took place from May 2002 to September 2017, with automakers

association ACEA organising meetings and contacts between the

companies.

End-of-life vehicle recycling is when cars are dismantled

and processed for recycling and disposal once they are no longer

fit for use.

The EU competition watchdog said the companies agreed not to

compete with each other in advertising the extent to which their

cars could be recycled and agreed to keep quiet on how much

recycled materials are used in new cars.

They also agreed not to pay car dismantlers for processing

the end-of-life vehicles. EU laws require carmakers to bear the

costs of recyling such vehicles if needed, allowing car owners

to dispose of cars free with a dismantler.

"We will not tolerate cartels of any kind, and that

includes those that suppress customer awareness and demand for

more environmentally friendly products," EU antitrust chief

Teresa Ribera said in a statement.

Volkswagen's fine was the biggest at 127.69 million euros,

followed by Renault-Nissan at 81.46 million,

Stellantis ( STLA ) at 74.93 million and Ford at 41.46 million.

Other penalised members of the cartel included Toyota ( TM )

, Mitsubishi, Honda ( HMC ), Hyundai

, Jaguar Land Rover, Mazda ( MZDAF ), GM

, Suzuki and Volvo.

Mercedes-Benz avoided a fine for alerting the EU

enforcer to the cartel.

The ACEA was handed a 500,000 euro fine.

All the carmakers admitted wrongdoing in return for a 10%

reduction to their fines.

($1 = 0.9259 euros)

(Reporting by Makini Brice

Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten and David Goodman

)