IN SOME AUDI 4S dealerships, different customers are treated differently. For instance, civil servants enjoy a 1 or 2 percent discount. This is a form of corruption, Beijing News commented on Monday:

The original media reports emphasized whether or not such conduct is a form of discrimination. According to the anti-monopoly law in China, it is still hard to tell whether it is improper or not for 4S stores to charge different prices to different groups of customers.

However, what is even more striking is the preferential discounts for civil servants.