South Korea’s antitrust watchdog has dispatched its officials to four major foreign car importers as part of its latest investigation into their alleged unfair practices, industry officials said Tuesday.

The four importers are BMW Group Korea, the local importer and distributor of German automaker BMW AG, Mercedes-Benz Korea, Audi Korea and Toyota Motor Korea Co., the local unit of Toyota Motor Corp., they said.

Officials at the Fair Trade Commission were looking into suspicions that the local distributors of foreign cars gave special favors to their financial arms and there were price differences between sedans and auto parts sold in South Korea and other countries.

An official at an importer that sells German high-end brands said his company will faithfully cooperate with the commission.

The on-site investigation came a year after the commission carried out a written inquiry over the importers’ price and distribution policies and sales practices.

The 2012 probe came after consumers complained that local price cuts by European automakers were insignificant even after a free trade agreement between South Korea and the European Union took effect. (Yonhap News)