Dealer cheated

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(Bild: Stephan Schätzl)

Peugeot Austria (PAG) accepts the fine of 15 million euros proposed by the Federal Competition Authority (BWB). The case concerns the abuse of market power vis-à-vis domestic car dealers until 2021.

The settlement was agreed between Peugeot Austria and the BWB, but is not yet legally binding, as the BWB explained.

Settlements are not settlements: the companies acknowledge the facts established by the BWB and accept the amount of the fine deemed appropriate by the BWB.

The case was initiated by the Upper Austrian Peugeot dealer Büchl, who turned to the Cartel Court at the end of 2018 because he did not agree with Peugeot Austria's specifications. In 2021, the Supreme Court (OGH), as the higher cartel court, deemed six out of twelve objections in the dealer relationship with Büchl to be inadmissible.

According to the legally binding decision, Peugeot Austria may no longer link bonus payments to the dealer with customer satisfaction surveys, among other things. Furthermore, the Peugeot general importer is also no longer allowed to reduce the dealers' trade margin if they deliberately fail to achieve excessive sales targets.

The Supreme Court's settlement order had already been "fully implemented" in 2021, Peugeot Austria explained on Thursday. PAG sees the settlement "as an essential contribution to drawing a line under this case. It has "put the form of cooperation with all our trading partners on a new footing". The cooperation with 52 dealers in Austria is "characterized by a completely new, cooperative manner".

Peugeot is part of the Stellantis automotive group, which emerged from the merger of Fiat Chrysler and the French PSA Group in January 2021. Stellantis also includes brands such as Opel, Citroën, Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Chrysler.