Li Auto has been the subject of much attention and controversy since it began to release its weekly sales list last year. For this list, some car companies, including Weilai, seem to have "long-standing grievances".
On the afternoon of July 30, Ma Lin, assistant vice president of brand and communications at NIO, posted on Weibo calling on Li Xiang to stop publishing weekly lists.
Ma Lin said, "The high-level tone is set: don't engage in low-level involution. The volume weekly list is more or less a bit of a low-level involution, and @ Li Xiang, want to stop it. ”
Ma Lin emphasized that the main task of Chinese automakers at present should be to achieve technological breakthroughs through R&D, rather than dwelling on short-term sales rankings.
Ma Lin also pointed out that although the audited delivery volume published each month can reflect the business status of the enterprise and is effective for consumers to understand the market and make purchasing decisions, it can also interfere with the normal operation of the enterprise.
Yang Xueliang, senior vice president of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, also agreed with Ma Lin's views, retweeted his Weibo and made it clear that he was against publishing the weekly list.
At the Xpeng Motors AI intelligent driving technology conference that night, He Xiaopeng, CEO of Xpeng Motors, also expressed his opposition to the weekly sales list.
He Xiaopeng shared his observations in the United States, believing that United States companies are more focused on improving end-to-end autonomous driving assistance technology, while Chinese technology companies are still paying attention to the weekly sales list.
He Xiaopeng said that China's technology companies are still doing "weekly sales lists" and trying to find ways to make money, which is not what technology competition should be.
By announcing the weekly sales within a limited range, Li Auto has always made itself at the top of the list, greatly enhancing its exposure, and "weekly sales" has also become an innovative marketing method.
In the past, the sales competition between auto brands was based on the monthly list, but now there are not only weekly lists, but even holidays to show orders.
Two days ago, Li Bin and Qin Lihong were also interviewed after the "NIO IN 2024" press conference, hoping that the relevant departments could manage the weekly list.
Qin Lihong pointed out that NIO does not participate in the weekly sales ranking to avoid exacerbating the industry's involution and anxiety and promote the healthy development of the industry.
Li Bin added that if NIO achieves the first place, we will not publish a weekly list.
For Weilai, the weekly list of Ideal may indeed put pressure on it, and this may not have much to do with Ideal itself, after all, Ideal now mainly sells extended-range models.
Regarding the weekly list, Lei Jun also jokingly joked during the live broadcast of the annual speech some time ago, "I don't know who sends the weekly list every week", which shows that the weekly list still has a certain impact on enterprises.
After NIO publicly opposed and refused to join the weekly sales list released by Li Auto, Li Auto did not stop this fixed behavior of "posting report cards" every Tuesday.
On July 30, Li Auto released its sales data for the 30th week of 2024. According to the data, Li Auto sold 12,800 units in a weekly week from July 22 to 28, surpassing Wenjie to rank first in the list of new power brands.
Li Xiang, the founder of Li Auto, also shared an illustration of the fable of covering his ears and stealing the bell in his circle of friends, with a "shhh
A few more words
The release of the weekly sales list can not only strengthen its own momentum, but also suppress its peers by the way. NIO's opposition may have something to do with NIO's ranking in the weekly sales list.
If you want to stop publishing the weekly list, I'm afraid that you can only stop if the sales exceed it. Previously, many ideal users have also questioned that car companies should still focus on building cars.
The result? The ideal is still to go your own way.
To prevent the ideal from not publishing the weekly list, we can only hope for the world. If the weekly champions are all about asking the world, and the ideal is still keen to post weekly lists, then it is really a living Lei Feng.