Four Chinese BMW dealers have been fined about 1.6 million yuan ($A280,000) as the government steps up an anti-monopoly campaign involving a number of foreign brands.
The Wuhan BMW dealers in the central province of Hubei have been ordered to pay the penalties for “forming a price alliance”, according to provincial authorities.
The dealers had agreed to consistently charge a fee for the pre-delivery inspection of cars, which falls under “the obligations and responsibilities” of the manufacturers, and its dealers, the statement says.
“This is price swindling behaviour and must be resolutely stopped immediately,” say the authorities.
The dealers were each fined between 150,000 yuan and nearly 940,000 yuan.
China’s Ministry of Commerce last week released a statement emphasising that the country’s six-year-old anti-monopoly law did not discriminate between foreign and domestic companies.
The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China expressed concern that European businesses were “increasingly considering the question of whether foreign companies are being disproportionately targeted”.
Automotive firms are the latest to be investigated, and last week the government pledged to sanction Audi, owned by Volkswagen, and Chrysler of the US, now part of Italy’s Fiat group, without stating which penalties each would receive.
Join the conversation