BEIJING, June 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Bentley's Beijing branch and a local buyer who says he was almost killed in his 5 million yuan (US$600,000) car are still in the midst of legal wrangling.

    Conciliation presided by the Beijing No 2 Intermediate People's Court failed Tuesday during the first hearing on a lawsuit filed by Guo Yong, said Wednesday's China Daily.

    Guo, originally asked the court to order Bentley to pay back the 5.1 million yuan (US$624,000) he spent for the car. He said Tuesday he was willing to take 2 million yuan (US$240,000) in compensation but keep the car.

    Guo, 47, said his Bentley suddenly went out of control in March last year but Bentley did not handle the problem afterwards.

    Beijing Bentley turned down Guo's settlement offer.

    A date for a second hearing has yet to be fixed, sources with the court said.

    Tuesday, Zheng Haojiang, legal director of Beijing Bentley, argued his company should not be held responsible.

    "According to the Law on the Liabilities for Product Quality, the selling party will be ascertained as being responsible only when product problems result in injury or economic damage. But the case is neither," Zheng said.

    He asked the court include English Bentley as a third party in the dispute.

    Guo withdrew his action against the English company last month but continued his suit only against the Beijing branch.

    "My action was aimed at the company's attempt to delay the date of court hearing," he said in a statement.

    Meanwhile, Zheng Haojiang claimed Tuesday that Beijing Bentley did not find any record of Guo's repair request in March last year.

    "Guo has never complained to us nor asked for repairs. He even further drove the car 8,000 kilometres between March and June last year," Zheng claimed.

    But the lawyer representing Guo Yong, Yang Younan, Tuesday denied Zheng's claim, and insisted that the car was never driven after March last year.

    Neither party provided any evidence.

    Zheng said the car was approved by national quality standard authorities. Yang, for his part, argued that Bentley claims its cars are problem-free.

    (China Daily)