Mercedes faces auto show protest

German automaker Mercedes-Benz faced a customer demonstration on the opening day of a major auto show in Guangzhou Thursday, and an industry insider said the company has been suffering problems with its sales network in China.

Two people extended a long, white banner with black Chinese characters on it, saying, "A 1-million yuan ($160,400) Benz, bought only for a month, had four engine breakdowns. Refund!" in front of the Mercedes exhibition booth at the 10th China (Guangzhou) International Automobile Exhibition. A photo of the scene was posted on Sina Weibo Thursday by im4s.cn, an auto sales information website.

"The after-sales department has constantly been in touch with the customer (of the faulty car), but maybe he is still not satisfied and the two parties are still negotiating. The incident happened unexpectedly, and we did not have any communication with him during the protest. We'll have to follow up later," Wang Qunru, an employee at New Trend Integrated Group, Mercedes' PR agency in China, told the Global Times Thursday.

When asked why it took so long to deal with the customer's issues, Wang said, "We'll have to verify his claims with the after-sales department," but then said, "We don't have any information on the situation … We need to investigate … We'll contact the car owner as soon as possible."

Mercedes-Benz China declined to comment when contacted by the Global Times Thursday.

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