Recently, at the "16th China Automotive Blue Book Forum", Jia Ke (real name Yu Yong), chairman of the forum, made a speech on the "involution" and "competition" of the domestic automobile industry as the chairman of the "World New Automotive Technology Cooperation Ecological Association", which caused heated discussions.
Jia Ke said that the six major "involution" phenomena in China's automobiles will bring huge disasters to the entire Chinese auto industry. This kind of disaster is reflected in three aspects: in terms of products, the appearance is bright, the reliability is poor, and the residual value rate is low; In terms of service, the system is facing a collapse, and user service is worrisome; In terms of ecology, the whole value chain is losing money, and the whole industry is sub-healthy. From this, he believes that Chinese cars have reached the most dangerous time.
In addition, Jia Ke mentioned in his speech that "Great Wall Motor's shocking report in May 2023", "some phenomenal new energy vehicle products", "a very small number of car companies have broken the ecological balance of China's automobiles through involution, trying to gain a leading position in one fell swoop" "Some car companies kicked the supplier away after the supplier worked hard to make the solution open source technology, and then vertically integrated themselves" "Calling for a ban on fuel vehicles every day, as a result, they built a plug-in car, and the fuel tank is larger than the fuel car" and other remarks were questioned by many netizens as criticizing BYD in the name of "anti-involution" in the forum.
Subsequently, the organizer of the "China Automobile Blue Book Forum" was revealed to be the "Automobile Business Review" under the name of Jia Ke, and the co-organizer and organizer were the "Xuanyuan Zhixue" and "Shanghai Jia Keshuo Education Technology Co., Ltd." founded by him. Evaluations such as "Jia Ke has completed the closed loop of the entire ecology alone, and there is no substantial credibility" also continue to appear.
After Jia Ke's remarks at the "16th China Automobile Blue Book Forum" sparked heated discussions, the chaos in the automobile circle has also received widespread attention from all walks of life.
Pulling on marketing infringes on consumers' right to know and right to choose
Since the beginning of this year, the overall competition in the mainland automotive industry has become more fierce and comprehensive, and the resulting chaos such as marketing and "black public relations" has continued to appear. It is understood that some auto dealers have begun to train the sales skills of "stepping on" competitors, and even poster materials compared with competing products are becoming more and more common.
On June 20, according to a number of media reports, a Great Wall Motors dealer was fined 5,000 yuan by the Tianjin Xiqing District Market Supervision Bureau for disseminating misleading information, damaging the reputation of competitors' products, and violating the relevant provisions of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China.
The reporter inquired about the public information of the administrative penalty and found that as a dealer of Great Wall Motors, Tianjin Boxin Hongda Automobile Sales and Service Company placed a comparison chart of the rights and interests of "Wei brand Gaoshan - four-wheel drive flagship version and Denza D9-1040 prestige" in the exhibition hall, and wrote the conclusion that "Wei brand Gaoshan VS Denza D9 is worth more than 67,400 yuan". The Great Wall Motors dealer was ordered to correct the illegal acts after an investigation by the local market supervision bureau for disseminating misleading information and damaging the reputation of competitors' products.
△ Screenshot of the official website of Tianjin Xiqing District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau.
Industry insiders believe that when comparing 4S stores with competing products, they often intentionally or unintentionally amplify their own advantages, shrink or even cover up the advantages of the other party, which is easy to mislead consumers and damage the business reputation and product reputation of competitors.
△ Screenshot of the official website of Tianjin Xiqing District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau.
"This kind of behavior not only harms one's own interests, but also damages the brand image and loses the trust of consumers." Zhang Xiang, a researcher at the Automotive Industry Innovation Research Center of North China University of Technology, said.
Zheng Fangyan, a lawyer at Yinghe Guoen (Futian) Joint Venture Law Firm, said that "stomping on marketing" and "comparing competing products" may be regarded as acts of unfair competition, depending on the severity of the circumstances. These behaviors are not only easy to have a negative impact on the overall healthy development of the industry, damage the fair competition environment of the market, lower industry standards, but also seriously affect the reputation of enterprises and goods, resulting in a decline in consumer trust in the entire market. Consumers are easily misled, and the purchase of products based on misinformation infringes on consumers' right to know and choice.
Zheng Fangyan suggested that enterprises should strengthen the training of laws, regulations and professional ethics for sales personnel to ensure that sales strategies and skills comply with the law and maintain a good market competition environment; Establish a reporting mechanism for consumers and employees to jointly maintain the market environment. In addition, if an enterprise finds that it has been infringed by an act of unfair competition, it shall correctly use legal means to protect its legitimate rights and interests.
The "public opinion war" is becoming increasingly fierce, and BYD, GAC and others take the lead in boycotting
In 2016, a taxi driver in Taiyuan died suddenly of illness, when Jia Ke claimed that the driver was electrocuted by BYD's electric car. The incident quickly fermented on the Internet, causing widespread concern and controversy. After the public security organs intervened in the investigation, BYD's legal department pursued legal responsibility to Auto Business Review, and Jia Ke publicly apologized.
△ Network screenshots.
In the past two years, in addition to the chaos of marketing, the "public opinion war" in the automotive industry has become increasingly intense.
On June 12, GAC Aion issued a solemn statement, saying: "Recently, some false information and malicious rumors about GAC Aion's 'layoffs' and 'intensive termination of contracts with fresh graduates' have appeared on the online platform, causing market misinterpretation and affecting the company's reputation." In order to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the enterprise, our company has officially reported to the public security organ and will investigate the legal responsibility of the rumor-mongers in accordance with the law. On June 14, GAC Aion officially established the GAC Aion Network Reporting Center, focusing on collecting clues and evidence of violations of laws and regulations such as insult, defamation, rumors, and slander against GAC Aion.
On June 19, "Li Yunfei, a martial artist who does not know martial arts", posted on Weibo that a car company has recently used black public relations methods to maliciously slander BYD's brand and products. BYD collects effective clues and evidence from the majority of netizens and all walks of life, and after verifying that it is true, it will reward the provider of effective clues and evidence with 200,000 yuan to 5 million yuan, and at the same time keep the personal information of the provider strictly confidential. On the same day, the Weibo account of the "BYD News Anti-Counterfeiting Office" simultaneously forwarded the above blog post and said, "Everyone is welcome to provide effective clues and evidence of black public relations!"
△ Image source: Xinhua News Agency
Prior to this, Xpeng Motors, Geely Automobile, Changan Automobile, etc. all said that they had suffered cyber attacks by black PR. Undoubtedly, in addition to the price war and technology war in the automotive industry, the "public opinion war" is also becoming increasingly fierce.
"The occurrence of these phenomena is a manifestation of fierce market competition and lack of legal awareness, which not only damages the brand image of the enterprise itself, but also has a negative impact on the healthy development of the entire industry and undermines the fair competition environment of the market." Zheng Fangyan told the "China Report" reporter.
Zhang Xiang said that every car company is not perfect, there are some flaws and problems, and the media may have a negative impact on the car company when reporting. Media reports need to be factual, not deliberately slanderous.
"The healthy and sustainable development of the automotive industry requires the joint efforts of all parties." Zheng Fangyan suggested that enterprises should actively respond to government policies, increase R&D investment, improve product quality and technical level, and pay attention to brand building and marketing to improve market competitiveness.
Judging whether Jia Ke, who has reached the most dangerous time for Chinese automobiles, is an industry whistleblower or a black whistleblower has also been controversial on the Internet recently, and many industry insiders suggest that all practitioners should adhere to the principle of objectivity and fairness and jointly help the healthy and sustainable development of the industry.