(CN) Chairman of Wuhan Wild Life Park in the news again.

[Guest guest]

South China Morning Post

http://china.scmp.com/chitoday/ZZZKGZ8XCYC.html

Monday, March 11, 2002

 

Second Mercedes smashed up by supporter of first protester

by MARK O'NEILL in Beijing

 

The owner of a Mercedes-Benz car had it smashed up in public in

support of another owner who did the same thing in December, an act

condemned by the company and a delegate to the NPC.

 

Six men used hammers to destroy the exterior of a white

Mercedes-Benz S320 on Friday in front of a large crowd at the entrance to a

wild animal park in Wuhan, Hubei province.

 

It was the same location where a similar model was smashed up in

December, the Beijing Youth Daily reported yesterday.

 

The owner is a Beijing businessman who declined to be

identified.

 

He is a friend of Wang Sheng, the owner of the first

Mercedes-Benz and chairman of the wild animal park. He said he drove his car

to Wuhan to be smashed up in public in a show of support for Mr Wang, who is

embroiled in a dispute with manufacturer DaimlerChrysler, which has not been

settled despite several meetings.

 

The six men damaged only the outside, leaving the engine and the

interior largely untouched.

 

A spokeswoman for Mr Wang said the process of making a complaint

against a company through the law courts was too slow and without result.

" The experience of other consumers gives us this lesson. So we have decided

to use this method. "

 

In a statement issued on Friday, DaimlerChrysler said the

company wanted to settle the problem with Mr Wang in a positive and

reasonable manner and was working hard in this regard. But it said the

repeat of the December incident had made a solution even more difficult.

 

" We praise the attitude of NPC Hubei delegate Xiong Tongfa who

said during the current NPC session that destroying a car was irrational

behaviour, " it said, adding that it wanted to help all of its Chinese

customers enjoy Mercedes-Benz cars for a long time.

 

Mr Wang said in December that he destroyed the car because it

had serious defects which had been repaired several times, to no avail, and

that the company refused to exchange the car or give him a new one.

 

In response, the company said the problems had been caused by

the customer using a fuel that was not specified by the manufacturer.

 

It said Mr Wang had refused its offer to clean the car's fuel

system free of charge.

 

[For more on Wuhan Wild Life Park, see:

http://www.aapn.org/zoopage2.html ]