Toyota’s premium division, Lexus was slapped with an 87.6 million RMB (~ P 642-million) in the world’s largest car market, China for market practices which were deemed monopolistic. Interestingly enough, these practices are quite normal here in the Philippines.
Quoting the Reuters report:
“The [Chinese] anti-monopoly bureau of State Administration for Market Regulation said that between 2015 and 2018, the Japanese carmaker set a minimum sales and resale price for its cars in coastal Jiangsu province, which deprived dealers of pricing autonomy and harmed customers’ rights.Lexus also fixed sales strategies in the region over the period, including offering customers discounts while asking them to purchase accessories at fixed prices, a sales tactic usual among individual auto dealers in China but frowned upon for carmakers.”
This development comes as China steps up regulation over auto sales. In the past, Ford and Mercedes-Benz were both slapped with hefty fines separately over the same issues.
Oddly enough, the practices which resulted in Lexus forking out a hefty fine—setting a minimum sales price, coordinating sales strategies among dealers, and fixing the pricing of accessories sound like business as usual here in the Philippines.
Source: Reuters
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