The Chinese government said yesterday it has concluded Mercedes-Benz violated its anti-monopoly law and charged excessive prices for parts, adding to a growing number of global automakers snared in an investigation of the industry.
Regulators found the luxury unit of Germany’s Daimler AG engaged in “vertical price-fixing” by abusing its control over the supplies of replacement parts, Xinhua news agency reported.
It said investigators from the Jiangsu Province Price Bureau found prices were so high that purchasing the parts used to make one Mercedes C class car would cost the equivalent of buying 12 vehicles.
An official said earlier that Volkswagen AG’s Audi unit and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s Chrysler would face unspecified punishment for violating the anti-monopoly law.
Chinese regulators have launched investigations of foreign auto, technology, pharmaceutical and dairy companies over the past two years using the 2008 anti-monopoly law in an apparent effort to force down consumer prices.
“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,” head of the Jiangsu Price Agency’s anti-monopoly unit Zhou Gao said.
It gave no indication what penalty Mercedes-Benz might face.
Yesterday’s report gave the clearest explanation to date of the grounds for the Chinese investigation of automakers.
Industry analysts have suggested regulators were motivated by complaints global automakers use their control over components suppliers to charge inflated prices.
Toyota Motor Co has said its Lexus unit is also under scrutiny. General Motors Co’s main China joint venture said last week it has responded to requests by regulators for information, but gave no indication it was the target of a formal investigation.
Other companies under investigation include Qualcomm Inc and Microsoft Corp.
Mercedes and Audi responded earlier to the investigation by cutting prices for replacement parts such as windshields by up to 38 percent. Chrysler cut prices of imported vehicles.
In a statement last week the EU Chamber of Commerce in China expressed concern foreign companies might be “disproportionately targeted” by regulators.
The chamber said it had received reports of “intimidation tactics” taken by regulators who pressure foreign companies to accept punishments without a full hearing or the involvement of their respective governments.
“Competition law should not be used as an administrative instrument to harm targeted companies or serve other aims, such as administratively forcing price reductions,” the chamber said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
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