China Fines Mercedes US$57 Million Over Price Fixing

By Niam Seet Wei BEIJING (China), April 24 (Bernama) -- Mercedes Benz was fined US$57.1 million (350 million yuan) by the authorities in east China's Jiangsu province for price fixing, China's state-run news portal reported. The authorities also fined several Mercedes distributors in the province a total of 7.8 million yuan, China.org.cn reported on Thursday. The penalty was imposed following an investigation into accusations that Mercedes has been dictating a minimum selling price to many of its dealers in Jiangsu, the portal said, adding the 350 million yuan fine accounted for seven per cent of Mercedes' 2014 total sales in the province. Meanwhile, China Daily quoted the German carmaker's written reply as saying it fully respects and accepts the findings and punishment decision, and will comply immediately. "At the same time, we have developed, through a comprehensive self examination, a series of targeted reform measures guided by the law enforcement authorities, having drawn important lessons from this. "We will ensure strict compliance with relevant laws, strengthening the legal and regulatory controls within our company, dealer network, and various business divisions to resolutely ensure that these issues do not arise again," Mercedes said. In September last year, China's anti-monopoly authority, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), imposed its first fine on a joint venture between China's FAW Auto group and Germany's Volkswagen (VW) with a total of US$46 million fine for price fixing. --BERNAMA