Following on from yesterdays rumble in the Shanghai Auto Show, we have this:
SHANGHAI: A group of foreign and domestic auto parts suppliers said Friday they intend to sue the Shanghai government for causing their companies to miss out on this week’s auto show in China’s financial hub.
The exhibitors say they paid hefty fees to appear at the huge trade show but that government organisers moved the more than 100 companies to an entirely separate auto exhibition in the remote Nanhui section of the city.
The companies told AFP that the switch happened even after they received official notices confirming their slots in the main show.
“After we paid, we found on the agreements that the address had been changed,” said Zhu Fanglang, manager of Taiyu Company, a car parts maker from Taiwan.
“After we went to that place, we found there was no audience at all and it was so far from the auto show exhibition centre.”
Zhu, whose company paid 12,800 yuan (1,650 US dollars) to take part in the Shanghai auto show, said they had been tricked into taking part in a different auto show.
Furious car parts exhibitors packed up and stormed out on Wednesday after the organisers and the government refused to listen to their grievances.
“The organiser didn’t give us a reply,” said a furious Zhu, who said companies would sue.
“They just sent lower-level persons to talk to us and some of them even threatened us and said there was no way we’re going to get our money back.”
An official surnamed Guo at the Shanghai Auto Parts Show, where the companies ended up, insisted nothing illegal had been done.
“As far as we’re concerned our exhibition’s business contract is completely legal,” said Guo.
But another exhibitor rejected that claim. “Our notice clearly said that our place would be in D or E hall, but the location in Nanhui definitely does not have such halls,” said Li Lin, a domestic car part supplier.
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