Mercedes-Benz guilty of price manipulation in after-sales services, says China

Shanghai: Daimler AG’s luxury brand division Mercedes-Benz has been found guilty of manipulating prices of after-sales services, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday, citing authorities in Jiangsu province.

The Jiangsu Province Price Bureau, which launched its investigation last month, found evidence of anti-competitive practices after raiding Mercedes-Benz dealerships in the province as well as an office in Shanghai, Xinhua said.

On August 5, Mercedes-Benz said it was assisting the authorities in their investigation. A spokesman for the brand was not immediately available to comment on the Xinhua report.

“It is a typical case of a vertical monopoly in which the carmaker uses its leading position to control the prices of its spare parts, repair and maintenance services in downstream markets,” Zhou Gao, chief of the anti-trust investigation at the Jiangsu bureau, told Xinhua.

The Xinhua report did not mention possible penalties.

China is intensifying efforts to bring companies into compliance with an anti-monopoly law enacted in 2008. Last week, Chinese media reported that German premium auto brand Audi, a unit of Germany’s Volkswagen AG, would be fined for violating anti-monopoly laws.

Reuters