Toyota has been fined 87.6 million yuan ($12.5 million) by China’s market regulator for price-fixing various Lexus models in the eastern Jiangsu province, Reuters reports.
China’s anti-monopoly bureau of State Administration for Market Regulation asserts that, between 2015 and 2018, Toyota set a minimum sales and resale price for its Lexus models in the Jiangsu province, depriving dealerships of pricing autonomy and harming the rights of customers.
During the same time period, Lexus also fixed sales strategies, offering customers discounts and asking them to purchase select accessories at fixed prices, a sales tactic frowned upon in the local market.
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A Toyota spokesman said the car manufacturer acknowledged and respected the penalty but failed to comment further.
Word about the fine comes amidst a dramatic fall in sales across the Chinese market. However, Lexus is enjoying a jump in sales, selling a total of 180,200 vehicles in the first 11 months of the year, a significant 21 per cent increase over the previous year.
Toyota is the seventh car manufacturer to be fined for price-fixing in China since anti-monopoly laws came into force in 2008. In June, Ford’s joint venture with Changan Automobile Group was fined 162.8 million yuan ($23,372,333) for violating the same law.
China calculates its price-fixing fines based on sales in the region where the violations took place. Toyota’s fine was based on 2 per cent of Toyota’s Chinese sales in 2016.
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