Xpeng Motors was involved in the Li Auto cyberstorm storm, and many car companies have denounced the black public relations chaos in the car circle

Chengdu Business Daily Red Star News

2024-04-23 21:04Posted on the official account of Red Star News of Chengdu Business Daily, Sichuan

Red Star Capital Bureau reported on April 23 that it was reported that the Hengshui Police in Hebei Province found clues involving Ideal MEGA when investigating cases related to water army companies and public relations companies. During the listing of MEGA, there were three to four car companies suspected of participating in the crackdown, and the Hengshui police launched a number of inquiries, and a middle-level employee of Xpeng Motors is cooperating with the investigation.

In this regard, the relevant person in charge of Li Auto (02015.HK/LI.US) said to the Red Star Capital Bureau that he "did not know". Xpeng Motors (09868.HK/XPEV.US) responded that it is actively cooperating with the police investigation of the supplier.

The Red Star Capital Bureau called the Hebei Hengshui Public Security Bureau on this matter, but as of press time, the phone has not been answered. 

Data with picture according to Visual China

恶意P成棺材车

Ideal MEGA was cyberbullied

Ideal MEGA is the first pure electric model of Li Auto, which was nicknamed "high-speed rail" by netizens because of its streamlined shape design, and received high attention before its launch. Within 2 hours of opening for reservations, the order for Ideal MEGA exceeded 10,000 units. The company has high hopes for it, with a target of 8,000 units per month.

On March 1st, the ideal MEGA was officially launched, but it was suddenly subjected to a series of "spoofs": some netizens took photos of multiple ideal MEGA parked side by side in the underground garage, and the tone and copywriting were reminiscent of the funeral industry, and the related content quickly rushed to the hot search.

Sales of the Ideal MEGA have also been greatly affected. Li Auto has not officially released the sales data of Li MEGA. According to the Financial Associated Press, within 72 hours of the launch of MEGA, 3,218 large orders were placed nationwide, and the number of unsubscriptions reached 10,297. From March 1 to March 11, Li Auto's stock price plummeted, and its market value evaporated by $7.5 billion.

On March 11, Li Xiang, CEO of Li Auto, posted a post on Moments denouncing the behavior of the Internet water army, calling it an organized illegal and criminal act, and said that he would not bow to the darkness and would use legal means to protect his rights and interests.

Li Auto said that it had clearly violated relevant laws and infringed on the company's right to reputation by posting, forwarding, and commenting on a large number of pictures, videos, and remarks with the above-mentioned insulting information on online platforms. The company has requested the deletion of the infringing information to various online platforms by sending infringement notices, lawyer's letters, etc. For the infringement of maliciously manufacturing and spreading the above information, Li Auto will reserve the right to pursue its legal liability.

On April 23, Xpeng Motors responded: 1. The Hebei police have recently carried out an operation to crack down on the Internet trolls, and Xpeng Motors is also actively cooperating with the police in the investigation of suppliers. The case is in the investigation stage, so please do not believe or spread rumors, and do not affect the investigation and handling of the case by the public security organs. 2. Xpeng Motors is very supportive of the police's action to crack down on cyber trolls. Since its launch, Xpeng X9 has also been widely attacked by cyber trolls, with more than 5,000 negative reports. In response to such an attack by the trolls, Xpeng Motors has collected evidence and reported the case to the public security organs, which have now accepted it. We will also disclose updated information to the public in a timely manner.

Overlapping price ranges

"Wei Xiaoli" has gone from unanimous external to competitive with each other

Under the circle of friends where Li Xiang posted a counterattack, He Xiaopeng left a message: "At the end of last year, we also experienced a huge lesson, the first time we understood what a shopping mall is like a battlefield, and the first time we knew the meaning of 'national defense capability'. ”

Although He Xiaopeng spoke out in support of the ideal, Xiaopeng Motors was exposed that middle-level employees cooperated with the police to investigate the "cyber violence ideal MEGA" incident

As the first batch of new car-making forces, NIO (09866.HK/NIO.US), Xpeng Motors, and Li Auto have experienced a difficult entrepreneurial stage in the early stage of new energy vehicles. Li Bin, the founder of NIO, He Xiaopeng, the founder of Xpeng Motors, and Li Xiang, the founder of Li Auto, are the founders of BitAuto.com, UC Browser, and Autohome respectively, and they have all crossed over into the automotive industry as Internet people. All three car companies were listed on the U.S. stock market and then on the Hong Kong stock market. Due to their similar experiences, they are often put together by the media, collectively known as "Wei Xiaoli" and "Three Brothers of New Cars".

There are many photos of the three founders circulating on the Internet.

In June 2020, He Xiaopeng shared a photo with Li Bin and Li Xiang sitting together in the circle of friends;In April 2021, a photo of Lei Jun, Wang Chuanfu and "Wei Xiaoli" was uploaded on the Internet;In July 2023, a car blogger posted a photo of the three of them at a summit, and Li Xiang forwarded it with the text: "It's so good";In March this year, the three of them gathered at the Xiaomi car press conference and swiped the screen on the Internet with an emoji sitting together.

Red Star Capital Bureau noticed that in the early days, due to the lack of products and being in different market segments, "Wei Xiaoli" was more of a mutual solidarity and unanimity to the outside world, and jointly fought against fuel vehicles and traditional car companies. However, as the number of products increases, the price ranges overlap, and so do the disputes.

NIO's second brand Ledao focuses on the range of 20-300,000 yuan, and the third brand aims for 10-200,000 yuan, plus the main brand, which will cover the range of 10-650,000 yuan. Xpeng Motors will focus on the range of 15-350,000 yuan. After the launch of the Ideal L6, the Ideal Auto has covered the range of 20-500,000 yuan.

Today, Li Auto has achieved a full-year profit, while NIO and Xpeng Motors are still losing money. To become a surviving car company, the competition between "Wei Xiaoli" will only become more intense. 

The phenomenon of cyberbullying in the car rim occurs from time to time

The car company reported to the police or offered a public reward

In response, Xpeng Motors said that it had also been attacked by an online water army and had called the police. Not only Li Auto and Xpeng Motors, but also cyberbullying in the car circle has occurred from time to time in recent years.

On April 8, Zhiji Auto released the new car Zhiji L6, and the key parameters of the Xiaomi SU7 were incorrectly marked at the press conference. The issue of apologies from both sides detonated public opinion. A large number of malicious comments appeared in the official live broadcast room, the comment area of the official account, and the live broadcast room of the dealer store.

On April 11, Zhiji Auto issued a report letter through Weibo, saying that it had been subjected to organized cyber violence and traffic bullying since April 9, which directly affected the normal business activities and business reputation of the company, and reported it to the relevant national authorities in real name, requesting severe punishment for the "organized cyber violence".

In December 2023, Douyin big V "Daqin Army Shaanxi Regiment" tested the high-speed fuel consumption of the equation Leopard Leopard 5, and the results showed a fuel consumption of 18 liters per 100 kilometers, causing controversy. Li Yunfei, general manager of the brand and public relations department of BYD Group, posted on Weibo to denounce malicious smears, listing several cases of BYD being maliciously targeted, and calling for healthy competition in the industry.

In December 2021, BYD launched the Qinglang operation, publicly soliciting clues and evidence about BYD's black public relations operations, with a maximum reward of 1 million yuan. In June 2022, BYD announced that in order to further crack down on online black public relations chaos, it would increase the reward for reporting to a maximum of 5 million yuan.

In March 2023, Great Wall Motor (601633. SH) launched an industry initiative, calling on industry colleagues to work together to purify the online communication environment, and pointed out the chaos of the "Internet water army" that has plagued the industry for a long time, and exposed the chaos of some practitioners who have tried all kinds of scandals to cover up all kinds of scandals through professional, collaborative and industrialized rumors, the media, and their peers of car companies. In this regard, Great Wall Motors launched the "10 million reward plan" to fully disclose online reporting channels and crack down on online water army.

Red Star News reporter Wu Danruo

Edited by Yang Cheng

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