Continuing its aggressive "antimonopoly" campaign against foreign companies, China is now investigating Toyota's Lexus division in what appears to be an effort to ensure the automaker's spare parts are affordable and readily available from multiple suppliers.
Toyota's time under China's microscope came just days after the government revealed it intended to levy fines on Chrysler and Volkswagen, while at least a dozen Japanese automakers have been placed on regulator radars for future investigations in the country.
As with the majority of the investigations in the Chinese government's antimonopoly campaign, the motives and methodology behind the probe into Lexus were unclear. A Toyota executive, speaking under the condition of anonymity, said he believed China was scrutinizing his company's spare parts because of the nature of the questions presented to the automaker in a China Automobile Dealers Association (CADA) survey.
"They asked about our spare parts prices, whether or not dealers are able to procure spare parts from any supplier, among other things," the executive said. "Our guess is that they wanted to make sure we're not too tightly controlling provision of spare parts to dealers, making sure dealers are allowed to buy spare parts not just from Lexus but other sources."
The Toyota executive said his company was warned to take the questions seriously, because CADA said it "meant business this time."
"[Toyota is] cooperating fully with the queries from the authorities on Lexus," said Toyota spokesman Naoki Sumino.
Lexus customers were said to have filed complaints about the prices of the car company's spare parts, which may have sparked the investigation. To stay off the Chinese government's radar, pre-emptive price cuts were said to have been enacted by Chrysler, Audi and Mercedes.
China's antimonopoly law, enacted in 2008, has been causing unease among foreign companies. As the Chinese government continues probing foreign companies in just about every sector, outsiders with business interest in China have expressed feelings of being hindered in favor of uplifting Chinese rivals.
Back on July 28, government officials showed up unannounced at several Microsoft offices around China to probe the U.S. tech company for monopolistic behavior. Officials confiscated two computers, financial documents and computer data during the surprise investigation of Microsoft.
"Microsoft complies with the laws and regulations of every market in which we operate around the world and we have industry-leading monitoring and enforcement mechanisms in place to ensure this,'' said Microsoft. "Our business practices in China are designed to be compliant with Chinese law."
