Jaguar Land Rover fined for false advertisement

The China subsidiary of UK premium carmaker Jaguar Land Rover has been fined 500,000 yuan (US$71,444) for false advertisement by the Pudong New Area market watchdog, according to the latest official list of market rule-breakers.

The company released an advertisement on its Weibo account claiming that only 30 examples of one particular model would be made available for sale in China, the Pudong New Area Administration for Market Regulation said.

However, it purchased 100 of the same vehicles in total from its headquarters in the UK, and 98 have already been sold in China, the administration found.

The company's behavior violated China's advertisement law, which bans fake or misleading contents, the administration said.

The company appealed for a lighter administrative penalty. After two hearings, held in July and October, the original penalty was upheld, the administration said.

In a separate case, the Shanghai subsidiary of Hitachi was fined 20,000 yuan by the Jiading District Administration for Market Regulation for failure to conduct elevator maintenance based on special equipment safety technical standards.

A total of 25 elevators were involved and some maintenance was not examined based on requirements, the administration said.

In addition, the Wujiaochang outlet of Shanghai Shunfeng Restaurant was fined more than 640,000 yuan for serving raw food like sashimi without license, according to the Yangpu District Administration for Market Regulation.

Its illegal gains of 80,717 yuan from the sales were also confiscated by the administration.