Benz's massive China fine

A Chinese province has hit Mercedes-Benz with a whopping 350 million yuan ($A72.7m) fine for monopoly price fixing.

The latest in a long line of foreign car companies fined for allegedly manipulative practices, Mercedes-Benz has accepted the fine, which is the highest yet levied on a foreign car-maker in China.

The Jiangsu province fined Mercedes-Benz for pressuring its dealers to set minimum prices on its cars and spare parts. The province also accused Mercedes-Benz of warning dealers of repercussions if they didn’t comply with the pricing requests.

“The investigation found Mercedes-Benz and its dealers in Jiangsu came to and carried out monopoly agreements to cap the lowest sales prices of E-Class, S-Class models and certain spare parts,” a statement from the Jiangsu pricing regulator said.

Besides the fine for Mercedes-Benz itself, it also levied 7.7 million yuan ($A1.6m) in fines on some of its dealers.

Mercedes-Benz had its Shanghai office raided last August as part of a government investigation into antitrust pricing behaviour. China has been harsh on foreign car-makers over the last year.

It punished a group of Japanese spare parts makers with a 1.24 billion yuan ($A257m) fine last year for antitrust activities, then hit car-makers Volkswagen, Audi, Fiat Chrysler with millions more in fines. Jaguar, BMW and GM have also been investigated.

“Mercedes-Benz China accepts the decision and takes its responsibilities under the competition law very seriously,” a Daimler statement said. “We have taken all appropriate steps to ensure to fully comply with the law.”

The fines come just days after Mercedes-Benz revealed its GLC Coupe concept (pictured) at the Shanghai motor show on Monday this week.