Monopoly regulators probe Mercedes Shanghai office

Anti-monopoly commission officials on Monday visited Daimler’s (DAI.ETR) Mercedes-Benz Shanghai office unannounced and questioned staff, Bloomberg reported. The visit came only a day after Daimler announced it was cutting spare parts prices in response to monopoly accusations. The National Development and Reform Commission is probing practices by Mercedes, larger German luxury-auto producers Audi (NSU.ETR) and BMW (BMW.ETR), and Japanese carmakers to see whether they are inflating prices for spare parts. “The timing is a bit confusing” for the Mercedes raid, said analyst Han Weiqi.” It may be because the cut hasn’t met the authorities’ expectations.”