[shimoo]

Originally Posted by F150

Do we know the reason why Tata Motors is charged the highest fine of the lot @ 1300 Crores ?

The fine is 2% of the manufacturers total revenue. In the case of Tata motors, JLR revenues were also clubbed together to determine the fine. I believe Tata are protesting the inclusion of JLR revenues.

[Whiplash7]

Does this mean that OEM's will also have to make the service manuals available?

[zenren]

Although it can be labelled as a victory for consumers, the verdict is clearly giving the same punishment to offenders who have committed varying levels of violations. For example, there is no difference in the punishment between Maruti who is at least willing to sell the spares in open market and VW/Honda/Toyota who are not even willing to do those. This would only weaken the position of CCI as an arbitrary punishment in case of an appeal. Clubbing JLR revenue to decide the fine for Tata is another blunder which would weaken their position as a well-thought out judgment.

They should have put reasonable fines so that the verdict would have been upheld in case of appeals. I feel the punishment might not be upheld in appeals, which would mean the manufacturers need not implement any of these 'requirements'.

Not having a major player like Hyundai included in the verdict, though due the fact that it was already sub judice due to a different case would also negatively impact the appeal.

[jaibir]

Originally Posted by Whiplash7

Does this mean that OEM's will also have to make the service manuals available?

Yes - the verdict directs OEMs to make diagnostic tools available to the public as well

[Rahul Rao]

Originally Posted by filcord

The issue of fakes cannot be solved by restricting sale of originals only to ASC. The solution is (1) decrease the prices (2) expand dealer list selling originals. (3) Police the fake market very rigorously. This is how the USA deals with the problem, and it works very well.

You cannot reduce cost of originals below a certain limit. All originals attract taxes like exise duty, VAT & LBT in case of Maharashtra these three add upto 30% to the base price.
Duplicates will be available in the without bill market which is huge, increasing the dealers market.
Then you have what are called generics, ie say XXX ltd which is oe supplier for filters for Tata & Maruti, will be in a position to make filters for other brands and sell them under their own brand name.

Rahul

[filcord]

Originally Posted by Rahul Rao

You cannot reduce cost of originals below a certain limit. All originals attract taxes like exise duty, VAT & LBT in case of Maharashtra these three add upto 30% to the base price.
Duplicates will be available in the without bill market which is huge, increasing the dealers market.
Then you have what are called generics, ie say XXX ltd which is oe supplier for filters for Tata & Maruti, will be in a position to make filters for other brands and sell them under their own brand name.

Rahul

I'm not talking of reducing prices below a reasonable profit margin. The CCI report mentions that spare parts prices at the ASC are having from 50 per cent to 5000 per cent profit margin! There is plenty of scope for reduction here.
The problem of duplicates is not only in auto parts. You can get Rolexes also, but only a person who wants to buy a fake will buy a pavement Rolex.
Again look at the US and Europe, they have the problem licked, and indeed fake auto parts is not a problem at all. (You can still get a fake Rolex in New York, but the reason is different!)

[sgiitk]

Second source is fine, as long as the quality is assured.

[RSR]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Second source is fine, as long as the quality is assured.

Yes, indeed!

In case of consumables and some common parts, it may even make sense to go for quality generic parts available in the market, instead of the OEM parts e.g. Bosch* wiper blades, bulbs, horns etc. (Unfortunately, sometimes even such parts are cloned to produce low quality fakes.)

* - Bosch was used only as an illustration. There are plenty of other quality generic part manufacturers such as Philips, Osram, Hella, Roots, Purolator etc.

[arin_12]

It’s a very good move from the GOVT. I see two action from this verdict.
1. Availability of the parts over the counter. This will lead all of us an easy supply of the part when you are in difficult time in middle of the road We also can choose our own beloved mechanics rather than careless type of the service people.
2. The amount of fine will be on debate for another few years. So as a consumer we may not get any benefit immediately!

[i74js]

Originally Posted by prmd_cochin

Though not coming under the CCI preview, the next move in the auto sector should be making crash testing mandatory and displaying the results in ads and brochures.

yes true and also on the wind shield / side glass similar to the star rating of appliances (tubelights, fans, air conditioners etc)

Let them do business but with some integrity

[sgiitk]

@arin; Service documentation may also become available. I may add that I have seem haynes manuals on sale on eBay.in now. Many people prefer them, simple language, plenty of pics and minimal use of specialised tools.

[jaaz]

Competition Commission fines manufacturers Rs. 2,545 crore

The contents were known to everyone. Finally, the Govt. has woken up. Better late than never. If you check some of the Total Loss Insurance Quotation's, you'll find that the Sum total of all the spares will be at least double the cost of the Car. That means, a Car of Rs. 10 lacs costs you at least 20 lacs, If you buy all the spares.

This is just milking the Customers. Apart from the spares, they charge more on co-branded items like Oil, battery, tyres etc., And you can't even avoid a particular Brand, cause almost all the manufacturer's are involved,

[blr]

Originally Posted by zenren

They should have put reasonable fines so that the verdict would have been upheld in case of appeals. I feel the punishment might not be upheld in appeals, which would mean the manufacturers need not implement any of these 'requirements'.

The fines may be reduced or the CCI asked to use a fairer method to asses the fines. However, there is a very good chance that the fundamental issue involved - restricted trade practices - will be upheld and the parties asked to open up in future. If not, then there is no need for CCI.

[greenhorn]

folks whining about the high margins-
Please read my post here
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ml#post3461184

sometimes you need high margins even if you sell the products at the landed cost + overheads @ cost . And my post just talks about Just one of the aspects of operational costs. there are plenty more in a typical major company.

[blr]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

folks whining about the high margins-

sometimes you need high margins even if you sell the products at the landed cost + overheads @ cost . And my post just talks about Just one of the aspects of operational costs. there are plenty more in a typical major company.

Please keep in mind that these people usually add everything on top of the MRP of parts/accessories abroad. The MRP already has a big fat margin built into it.

Moreover, the 'whining' is more about the monopoly (non-availability of parts through other vendors, non-availability of service manual, etc) rather than the fat margins.