Commerce and Industry Minister Tawfik Al-Rabiah said the advertisement contained a hidden threat against people dealing with companies other than the agent. The Kingdom's agency law does not require an agency's exclusiveness or demand approval of a particular agent to market Nissan and Infiniti cars, he added.

The ministry also pointed out that all cars displayed in the Kingdom's market are licensed to sell. They were cleared by the ministry after they underwent a series of measures including checking of their conformity with the Kingdom's standards.

"Alhamrani is not allowed to make any statement violating the Kingdom's law," the ministry said, adding that the authorized agent of a company must provide maintenance service and spare parts to any car produced by that company.

Alhamrani company's advertisement appeared in local Arabic newspapers on Sunday. An official ministry source told Al-Eqtisadiah business daily that it had asked the car company to publish correction ads in all the newspapers that published the objectionable ad, at its expense.