VW, Honda, Hundai to be questioned on the grounds of fair price practice for the spare parts

In an interesting move, CCI (competition commission of India), the agency that works as watchdog to hold fair price/trade and practices  in India has ordered an enquiry in to Foreign automakers Honda/VW and Hundai. According to the complaints apparently by consumers, the auto spare parts are only available through the authorized dealer network and are sold at high price. They claim the parts are not available in normal retail outlets like parts from various Indian vehicle makers.

The availability and cost of genuine parts of these foreign brands are always an issue. If the claims are true, it is interesting to know the case for Hundai motors that is second highest selling brand in India now and has vast network and distribution system.

The other brands fairly lesser in sales, and often times the issues is to get the parts to be replaced in time. The dealers even order parts to replace. So it not sure why would they stack them at retailers or the retailer would be interested to stock them.

Honda has been facing issue in its aftermarket due to higher parts costs and has been struggling in sales, not necessarily due to the higher part cost, but it could be one of the prime factors when there is ample choice available for consumer. VW, started its journey through luxury segment and now it has Polo and Vento on market so might take a while to gain its spread.

However CCI, has ordered the investigation requesting a report within 45 days, so it would be interesting to know the outcome of report which most likely would not turned out anything significant.