China fines Audi, Chrysler on monopoly charges

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http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/09/11/3373384/china-fines-audi-chrysler-on-monopoly.html?sp=/99/261/

China fines Audi, Chrysler on monopoly charges
By JOE McDONALD
AP Business Writer
September 11, 2014

BEIJING — China on Thursday announced it will fine Audi $40.5 million and Chrysler $5.2 million in a sweeping anti-monopoly probe of the auto industry that has prompted complaints foreign businesses are being treated unfairly.

Regulators have launched probes of global automakers, technology suppliers and other companies in an apparent effort to force down prices. Business groups say the secretive and abrupt way the investigations are conducted is alienating foreign companies, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said this week Beijing might be violating its free-trade commitments. Regulators deny foreign companies are treated unfairly.

Audi, the luxury unit of Germany's Volkswagen AG, improperly enforced minimum prices that dealers were required to charge for vehicles and service, according to the Cabinet agency that oversees anti-monopoly enforcement, the National Development and Reform Commission. It said Audi was fined 248.6 million yuan ($40.5 million) and eight distributors a total of 30 million yuan ($4.9 million).

Chrysler, part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, was fined 31.7 million yuan ($5.2 million) for enforcing minimum prices for vehicles sold by dealers in Shanghai, according to the city's price bureau. It said three dealerships were fined a total of 2.1 million yuan ($343,000) for agreeing to fix minimum prices for service, paint jobs and repairs.