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On November 29, the Jiangsu Provincial higher people's Court and the Provincial Market Supervision Administration jointly held a press conference, at which they reported the judicial and law enforcement work of anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition in Jiangsu Province from 2019 to 2022, and issued ten typical cases of anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition enforcement. Among them, a well-known brand automobile manufacturer was fined 87.613 million yuan by the market department for unifying the dealer network quotation and limiting the minimum price of resale goods by the dealer.

In December 2017, the anti-monopoly law enforcement agency of Jiangsu Province launched an anti-monopoly investigation into the suspected implementation of vertical monopoly agreements on a certain brand of cars. According to investigation, from June 2015 to February 2018, car manufacturers of the brand required dealers in Jiangsu Province to quote prices uniformly according to the suggested retail prices of each model when selling cars on the Internet platform by holding dealer meetings, shop inspections, Wechat notices, and so on. Dealers shall not lower the online quotation without authorization. From 2016 to March 2018, the minimum resale price of key models sold by dealers was restricted by holding regional dealer meetings and Wechat notices, and the brand's car manufacturers implemented the above price control through a number of management measures. The behavior of the brand car manufacturer violates the provisions of Article 14 of the Anti-monopoly Law before the revision. In December 2019, the Jiangsu Provincial Market Regulatory Bureau made an administrative penalty decision in accordance with the law, ordered it to stop its illegal acts and imposed a fine of 87.613 million yuan.

The typical case reported by relevant departments in Jiangsu Province coincides with a decision on administrative penalties issued by the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration in December 2019 on Toyota's monopoly case in China. Toyota China was fined 87.613 million yuan and ordered to stop the illegal behavior because of the price monopoly in the sales of its Lexus brand cars, according to the penalty decision.

According to the decision, Toyota has committed two major violations in China. 1. The parties have reached an agreement with the dealers to limit the quotation of the dealer network and the resale price of some models, including the quotation of the whole vehicle sales network of dealers in Jiangsu Province and the sales price of some models of dealers in Jiangsu Province. 2. The parties have implemented the agreement to limit the quotation of the dealer network and the resale price of some models, the parties have implemented price control through a number of management measures, and the dealer has implemented the price requirements of the parties.

After investigation, from June 2015 to February 2018, the regional sales managers of the parties required dealers in Jiangsu Province to quote prices uniformly according to the suggested retail prices of each model when selling Lexus cars on Internet platforms (Automobile Home, car-changing Network) by holding dealer meetings, shop inspections, Wechat notices, and so on. Dealers shall not lower the online quotation without authorization.

According to the investigation, from 2016 to March 2018, the regional sales managers concerned restricted the minimum resale price of key Lexus models such as ES200, ES300h, NX200, CT200, RX450, NX300, LX570 and LS series by holding regional cooperation meetings and Wechat notices. For example, the maximum discount rate for the Lexus RX450 should not exceed 6% of the recommended retail price. The minimum opening price of the elite is 273000 yuan, the lowest opening price of the ES300h comfort car is 353000 yuan, and the lowest opening price of the NX200 cutting-edge model is 288000 yuan. The NX300, LX570 and LS series all require that there is no cash discount when the new models appear on the market.

The Market Supervision Administration pointed out that by virtue of their own dominant position and strict management measures, the parties have a strong binding force, which limits market competition and harms the interests of consumers. For dealers, they are deprived of the right of independent pricing, so that resources can not be allocated reasonably, and infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of dealers; for consumers, they are forced to accept the price formed by non-competition and bear higher purchase costs. lost the right of free choice, harmed the legitimate interests of consumers.

It is understood that China's antitrust storm began in July 2014, sweeping the long-criticized automobile industry.

For example, in September 2015, the Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission fined Dongfeng Nissan Automobile sales Co., Ltd. in accordance with the law 123.3 million yuan and 17 dealers in Guangzhou 19.12 million yuan. The reason is that Dongfeng Nissan reached and implemented a monopoly agreement with its dealers in Guangdong Province to fix the resale price of cars, in violation of Article 14 of the Anti-monopoly Law.

For example, in June 2019, the General Administration of Market Supervision imposed a fine of 4 per cent on Chongqing sales of Changan Ford in accordance with the law, reaching 162.8 million yuan, because Changan Ford's behavior deprived downstream dealers of pricing autonomy, excluding restrictions on competition within brands, and actually weakening competition among brands, harming fair competition in the relevant markets and the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.

The Jiangsu Provincial High Court said that at present, the brand sales model based on 4S stores is widely implemented in the field of automobile circulation in China, and the vertical monopoly of automobile suppliers on automobile dealers not only harms the competition order of the automobile circulation market, but also seriously infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. The case has had an extensive impact at home and abroad, has a strong warning significance for industry operators, helps to improve the understanding of enterprises in maintaining the order of market competition and the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, and enhances the consciousness of enterprises in providing high-quality and high-price goods. it has further promoted the healthy and orderly development of the automobile circulation industry.

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