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 The fines, the largest so far meted out by the pricing regulator,
the National Development Reform Commission (NDRC), follow a global
crack down including in the United States and Europe on price
collusion in the auto parts sector, which has also mostly affected
Japanese companies.
In China, parts maker Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd was the
hardest hit by the NDRC with a 290.4 million yuan fine.
Denso Corp and Mitsubishi Electric Corp were also among the 12 auto
parts makers the NDRC said its investigation showed had colluded to
reduce competition and establish favorable pricing on their
products.
The agreements were in violation of China's anti-monopoly law and
"improperly affected the pricing for auto parts, entire vehicles and
bearings", the NDRC said in a statement published on its website on
Wednesday.
 China is intensifying its efforts to bring companies into compliance
with the anti-monopoly law enacted in 2008, and has in recent years
slapped foreign companies including Mead Johnson Nutrition Co and
Danone SA with hefty fines.
Legal experts, however, point out that the authorities appear to
have wielded the law against more foreign multinationals than local
companies. Officials say the law is applied to both domestic and
foreign firms, with the aim of protecting consumers.
China's auto sector, which is the world's largest and dominated by
foreign brands, has been under particular scrutiny amid accusations
by state media that global car and parts makers are overcharging
customers.
Xinhua news agency reported earlier this month that Mercedes-Benz
has been found guilty of manipulating prices for after-sales
services in China.
The NDRC also said it would punish Audi and Fiat SpA's Chrysler for
monopoly practices. Executives at Toyota Motor Corp said the
government was looking into the auto parts policies of its premium
brand, Lexus.
In a commentary published on Wednesday, the official Xinhua news
agency said foreign companies saw China's auto sector as a prized
piece of "fat meat", and that the regulators were acting like a
"sword" to protect consumer interests.
"China is a country ruled by law, everyone should be equal before
the law," Li Pumin, NDRC's secretary general, told reporters
earlier.
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GLOBAL SCRUTINY
The anti-trust law stipulates fines of between 1 and 10 percent of a
company's revenues for the previous year for anti-competitive
practices.
Fines for the Japanese firms ranged from 4 to 8 percent of sales,
the NDRC said, although it was not immediately clear whether that
amount included sales of the investigated products or total China
sales for a specific period.
The companies fined include wire harness maker Furukawa Electric Co
and ball bearing makers NSK Ltd, NTN Corp and Jtekt Corp.
Hitachi Automotive, a subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd, along with bearings
maker Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp were found to have engaged in
anti-competitive behavior but were not fined since they were the
first to provide evidence to the regulator, the NDRC said.
All 12 companies also vowed to take corrective measures to change
sales practices that violated the law, the regulator added.
Some of these Japanese auto parts makers have also been fined by
U.S. and European regulators. They include Denso, Yazaki and
Furukawa. Several European auto parts makers such as Autoliv and
Leoni have also been affected.
(Reporting by Matthew Miller in BEIJING and Yoko Kubota in TOKYO;
additional reporting by Koh Gui Qing and Beijing Newsroom; Editing
by Miral Fahmy)
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