China Accuses Mercedes-Benz of Price-Fixing

Subscribe
The German automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz has been accused of manipulating the prices of its luxury cars’ replacement parts, illegal under China’s 2008 anti-monopoly law, China’s Xinhua news agency reported, citing regulators.

MOSCOW, August 18 (RIA Novosti) - The German automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz has been accused of manipulating the prices of its luxury cars’ replacement parts, illegal under China’s 2008 anti-monopoly law, China’s Xinhua news agency reported, citing regulators.

"Mercedes-Benz is a typical case of vertical price-fixing – that is, the use of its dominant position in after-market parts to maintain price controls,” Jiangsu's anti-monopoly unit chief Zhou Gao said as quoted by Xinhua.

The Jiangsu Province Price Bureau’s investigation included a raid on Mercedes-Benz dealerships in the eastern coastal province and an office in Shanghai, which resulted in evidence proving the division of Daimler AG was inflating the price of spare parts, Xinhua reported.

According to a report from the China Automotive Maintenance and Repair Trade Association, the cost of replacing all the spare parts in a Mercedes-Benz C-Class is more than 12 times the price of a brand new vehicle.

China is currently strengthening its efforts to enforce its law drafted to prevent anti-competitive practices among companies in the country.

Although Mercedes-Benz has not officially been punished for its crimes, the 2008 law allows China’s antitrust regulator, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), to impose fines of up to 10 percent of the company's Chinese revenues from the previous year, Reuters reported.

Last month, Audi, a unit of Germany’s Volkswagen AG and a top seller in China, came under fire by the NDRC for monopoly practices resulting in a 250 million Yuan ($40.7 million) fine, the 21st Century Business Herald reported.

As the competition among foreign cars manufacturers increases, Daimler aspires to sell more than 300,000 Mercedes-Benz cars in China by 2015, Reuters reported.

China’s anti-monopoly law has so far fined both Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. and Danone SA and recently accused US chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. of a monopoly in the country. According to Reuters, the Chinese government is currently investigating the United States’ Microsoft for its anti-competitive behavior.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала