The high profile saga that had many consumers' blood pressure going off the dial started in May 2004 with the dramatic announcement that Toyota South Africa was being investigated for "price fixing". Eventually Toyota paid an "administrative penalty" of R12-million.

There had long been rumours of investigations by the Competition Commission into a variety of "irregularities" in the wholesale and retail sectors of the South African motor industry, but the reality of it all hit the industry hard. It had long been contended by many individuals and a variety of organisations that the South African motor industry acted as a cartel and was guilty of "ripping off" the public and making huge profits. This pronouncement against the industry market leader by the Competition Commission fuelled the "I-told-you-so" fires and resulted in a further barrage of "Letters to the Editor".

There was a lot of noise by the Competition Commission that further "revelations" would soon be made and that several companies were involved. Almost a year went by before the Commission said they had found evidence of manufacturers imposing minimum resale prices on dealers, dealer collusion and anti-competitive franchise agreements. On May 31, 2005, the announcement was made that cases had been referred to the Competition Tribunal for adjudication. This started a period of private negotiations between the Commission and the "guilty parties".

Then came a long period of silence, despite the best efforts of journalists showing their grit by continually gnawing at the Commission to make good their claim that Toyota was not the only guilty party.

Eventually, on December 7, 2005, all was revealed and the six "guilty parties" were named. General Motors was fined R12 million, DaimlerChrysler, R8 million, Nissan, R6 million, Volkswagen and its Gauteng dealers, R5 million, Subaru dealers, R500 000 and Citroën R150 000. Then, at the end of January 2006, BMW SA's dealers were penalised R8 million. Shan Ramburuth, the acting commissioner, confirmed BMW dealers had signed a consent agreement in which they had agreed to pay an administrative penalty and implement compliance programmes to ensure their businesses complied with the Competition Act.

Added to Toyota's earlier R12 million fine, the Commission's coffers swelled by a substantial R51,65 million, despite pleas of innocence from the payers.

The Competition Tribunal questioned the Commission on the variance in the extent of the administrative penalties and was told there were different circumstances in each case. Sometimes geographical areas or limited model ranges were involved, while Citroen's contravention lasted only two months and Nissan's "misdemeanours" related only to fleet sales and not to its entire business.

Interestingly, the agreements were reached without any admission of guilt. The firms involved agreed not to indulge in retail price maintenance (a euphemism for price fixing) and collusion, as well as making commitments to facilitate competition in the new car market.

Manufacturers agreed to establish a mechanism for reporting contraventions of the Competition Act and to review their franchise agreements with dealers, which are often held up as a bone of contention in terms of a "free market" trading environment.