business

Toyota says Chinese regulators looking at Lexus

24 Comments
By JOE McDONALD and YURI KAGEYAMA

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24 Comments
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Yes, China, it is called supply and demand. Low supply and high demand = high prices. Oh, I forgot, China is not capitalist, but "capitalism with a Chinese flavor". Now we know what that means. But it is interesting that in spite of all the friction, Chinese still love Japanese cars. Maybe that is the real problem for the government. Nobody wants Chinese made cars. So, harrass foreign manufacturers out of China.

7 ( +12 / -5 )

Might be just one of the periodic purges that occurs.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Article states " But customers complain prices of imported luxury vehicles and replacement parts are too expensive. Luxury cars in China can cost up to three times the price charged in the United States or Europe."

Problem is that China does not build any competitive luxury cars (other than Volvo) and the German and Japanese companies are monopolizing the market until domestic manufacturer catch up. What choices do you have? Nobody is forcing you to buy, but the wealthy Chinese prefers status symbol cars of Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, or Lexus to anything that is built in China. Even in the U.S. or Europe, the OEM parts for these luxury cars are usually two to three times the regular cars. If you can't afford it, don't buy it. Buy Geeley.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Commies continuing their exploitation of the WTO status they should neve have been given. Keep it classy.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

China, here's how you 'fix' the problem (pun VERY much intended), get your shite together and start building better cars.

Oh, last time I checked, luxury cars have that title because of the price. Kind of defeats the purpose of calling something a 'luxury car' if it costs the same as the 'normal' cars, no?

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Chinese complaining that Luxury cars and replacement parts are too expensive, so then Chinese people just don't buy them.

Quite honestly I think luxury cars and many other items are too expensive too, but I do not seek to change the rules or eliminate them from the market.

What is it with china and how it often does not understand simple realities?

The manufacturer can charge what ever price it sees fit in a free market, there are other cars available so its hardly a monopoly.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

"That is a common practice in some other countries but regulators said it interfered with market forces and forced consumers to pay higher prices."

If the consumer thinks it's too expensive they don't need to buy it! That's exactly what market forces are all about. If it's too expensive and nobody buys it this will force the supplier to reduce prices or pack up and go. The government regulators (as always) who are clueless (as always) and no doubt inspired by a political agenda (as always) will meddle with a process they have little understanding of just because they have a job and need to look like they are doing something to justify it (as always). The only thing interfering in market forces are government regulators as the name suggests.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Corruption a lot worse in China, they should expect those costs to be tacked on to the price of the cars.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

While I am certainly no fan of the Chinese govt, seems rather clear to me there is major PRICE FIXING going on with luxury cars there........................simple as that, cant have businesses that are supposed to COMPETING but instead COLLABORATING to enrich themselves!

Far too many businesses scam & thieve whether its from customers or countries & often BOTH!

I am all for fair & reasonable BUT I for one am getting sick of the MARKET thieving from my wallet. This is also a huge problem in Japan wrt foreign cars & parts & in general far far too much of the "free market" in Japan & elsewhere IS FIXED & govts should actively seek out offenders & fine the HELL out of them

Ripping people/countries off ISNT Competition!

That said I am not naïve enough to expect anything close to perfection but I for one is sick & tired of reading about big business fleecing people & countries, these SOBs need to play by the rules NOT FIX the rules!

0 ( +3 / -3 )

The chinese people must stop being innocent and naive. Forget about disputed islands and the past. They should buy more Toyotas, Hondas and Nissans instead of BMW, Mercedes, Audis and Volkswagen.

By the way, China is one of a few places Volkswagen cars are selling well, and I cant see why. In the rest of the planet VW is loosing ground month after month.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

But if they lower the price, then it is not such a conspicuous consumption luxury good to show of how rich you are, is it! Catch 22.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Seems the Chinese want affordable luxury cars.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Regulators have not disclosed the basis of their investigation. But customers complain prices of imported luxury vehicles and replacement parts are too expensive. Luxury cars in China can cost up to three times the price charged in the United States or Europe.

The price of doing business in Communist Controlled China.

You have to pay officials to do business in China and then raise prices to recoup those payments. So, if Communist China President Xi really wants to do something about the higher prices then he should sick his regulators after all those flies and tigers rather than just going after political opponents.

Business groups welcomed the 2008 law as a step toward clarifying operating conditions in China. Since then, they have said it is enforced more actively against foreign companies than against their Chinese rivals.

Exactly what the Communist want.

In those cases, the government has said it was looking into whether they abused their market dominance to charge excessively high prices.

Market dominance because the foreign products are 100 times better than the knock-off Chinese ones.

If the Communist want to equal the playing field they should force their homegrown companies to create something homegrown rather than cheap knock-offs.

How is the homegrown baby formula business doing in Communist China?

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Cut the import tax rate and hurdles so the customer will have normal market price.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Is it the Japanese makers, or their Chinese distributors and local dealers who are pricing the cars so high? The Chinese government ought to check that they are targeting the real culprits.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I guess some official did not get their hush money and decided to jump up and down.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

"...Chinese regulators looking at Lexus" Yes, and they are looking at very nicely engineered cars. I look at Lexuses too although I can never afford one.

"Cut the import tax rate and hurdles so the customer will have normal market price." Interesting point. Japan is a free trade zone for cars. No tariffs on cars or parts. I remember reading that a BMW that cost 8M yen in Japan would be about 30M yen in China. But if China drops the import tax would it create hyper demand?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

right or wrong with market size comes power and privilege

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Nishikat; Can you tell us what a 8M yen BMW cost in Germany ?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

No, sorry.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I would suspect the market for luxury cars in China is not elastic in that the same (rich) people will buy the car they want even if it is 3 times the price abroad.

This speaks more about the income gap in China between the really rich and the merely rich.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"customers complain prices of imported luxury vehicles and replacement parts are too expensive"

How about a good ol' standard vehicle? Spend the extra money on more pets, lol.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

If given a choice between a Chinese made car and a Japanese made car, which do you think they would truly pick? Propaganda says Chinese, but the market says otherwise.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

If China would regulate their own internal corruption then few of its citizens could afford these luxury brands at the current prices - which only reflects the customers' ability to pay - and there would be no need for so-called monopoly regulation (the meaning of which has been reinvented to suit China), as they wouldn't be selling enough to have any impact.

Audi might be owned by VW AG but it is an older company than VW. Mercedes Benz is older than Daimler, and Fiat is older than it's 'parent' Chrysler. Stating that they are just a luxury division is nonsense..It does apply to Lexus, Infinity and Acura, but so what? If China could make a proper car you could bet that there would be enough Chinese to buy them, but look at their "Geely" effort and try not to laugh, I dare you. They haven't got a clue. The more you hear about China (the political nation, not the invididuals) the more you wonder where it's going to go....

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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