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A few days ago, Toyota was ordered by regulators to stop illegal acts and imposed a fine of 87.6131 million yuan because of the price monopoly imposed by Lexus. In response, Toyota China responded, "accept the punishment of the General Administration and seriously rectify and reform."

The penalty is due to Toyota's Lexus brand, the practice of unifying dealer network quotations and setting the minimum price for resale goods by dealers, which means that Toyota officials are manipulating prices, thus violating the Anti-monopoly Law. According to articles 46 and 49 of the Anti-monopoly Law, the regulatory authorities ordered the parties to stop the illegal acts and imposed a fine of 2 per cent of the sales in 2016, that is, 87.613 million yuan.

There are two specific cases: first, Toyota and dealers have reached an agreement to limit the dealer network quotation and the resale price of some models; second, Toyota has implemented an agreement to limit the dealer network quotation and the resale price of some models.

Cars as a commodity, no matter whether it is a discount or a price increase, it is determined by the market. Good products, even if there is a price increase, will be bought. On the other hand, even if there are more concessions, consumers may not necessarily recognize them.

Therefore, no matter in China or even around the world, Toyota models are best-selling models, and the sales are naturally very good. For example, according to Lexus, sales in China in the first 11 months of this year totaled 180200 vehicles, up 21% from a year earlier, a performance that should be said to be dazzling for the overall downward trend in the country.

Good sales mean that Toyota and Lexus can compete without relying on terminal prices and still make good profits. For a long time, Toyota's models have been relatively stable in terms of terminal prices and offered less in terms of concessions, but in the face of bad competition in the car market, dealers can make profits by adjusting their own prices to affordable profit points to sell. However, in order to pursue profits, Toyota has implemented price control, which limits the implementation of sales only on the terminal price.

According to the provisions of the Anti-monopoly Law, automobile dealers are given the right to independently determine the price of cars, after-sales service prices, cross-district sales and other rights, automobile production enterprises have no right to interfere with the sales behavior of dealers, so Toyota violated the Anti-monopoly Law.

Although the price restriction has two sides, Toyota can ensure its own high profits, for consumers, it can not let the market price change too much, resulting in consumer psychological dissatisfaction. But regulators believe that Toyota's actions exclude and limit market competition and harm the interests of consumers.

It is worth noting that the main brand involved this time is Toyota's Lexus. This is a famous brand that regards terminal price increases as "hidden rules". Selling cars by hungry marketing can make Toyota profitable as well as dealers.

In the domestic car market, other luxury brands use price cuts in exchange for sales, but Lexus can increase prices in exchange for sales, and the trend can continue to rise. It's obviously a win-win for Toyota and dealers, but it's a little unfair to consumers.

For dealers, although they know that manufacturers have only controlled prices, they have not stopped it, because if dealers do not increase prices on hot-selling models, it will be difficult to make profits on those unpopular models that are difficult to sell, so why not do it?

In addition to Toyota China, Dongfeng Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Changan Ford have also been fined 123.3 million, 350 million, 250 million and 162.8 million for price monopoly since 2014. Although the anti-monopoly punishment of China's automobile industry has entered a peak period, the draft Anti-monopoly Guide on Automobile Industry was completed at the end of October 2015 and consulted in March 2016, but it has not yet been finally implemented. it means that China's anti-monopoly is still in an immature stage.

Some industry insiders pointed out that the penalty is limited to the illegal behavior of the brand in Jiangsu Province, and the impact on Toyota is very small. However, the case clearly lists the regions and models involved in the violation, and the limited discount ratio is in fact convenient for consumers to claim compensation for safeguarding their rights.

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