Japan: BMW raided by JFTC

Japan’s Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) raided BMW Japan on Wednesday, September 11, for allegedly imposing unreasonable sales quotas on its distributors and making them buy vehicles when they missed the targets.

A representative of BMW Japan confirmed to the Japan Times, that the JFTC raid had taken place, and commented that the company would cooperate with the investigation.

According to sources, the antitrust watchdog suspects that the Tokyo-based unit of German automaker BMW AG began imposing unfair trade conditions on distributors several years ago, such as setting sales targets for new models that appear to have been difficult to achieve through normal sales activities.

BMW Japan made the distributors buy vehicles when they failed to meet quotas, abusing its superior bargaining position in violation of the anti-monopoly law, the Japan Times stated.

Full Content: Japan Times

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