In a recent social media post, Li Xiang, the founder of Li Auto, stated, "This represents the most severe behavior under the regulations against unhealthy competition." On April 11, Li Xiang expressed that since the government initiated measures against unhealthy competition in the automotive industry in 2025, significant improvements have been seen in curbing malicious online commentators and disparaging marketing tactics. A climate of healthy competition has gradually been fostered among Chinese automakers. However, recently, certain brands have heavily employed marketing accounts to disparage Li Auto's products, utilizing a massive number of fake accounts to fabricate false information and overwhelm comment sections, severely disrupting the company's normal operations. Li Xiang announced plans to pursue legal action to protect the company's rights and called for relevant authorities to intervene and rectify the situation.
Over the past few years, the Chinese automotive industry has undergone an intense phase of unhealthy competition. Particularly with the rapid increase in the penetration rate of new energy vehicles, the market has shifted from expansion to a battle for existing market share, intensifying rivalry among automakers. Companies have competed for customers through significant price cuts and exaggerated advertising, leading to a substantial compression of industry profits. According to data from the China Automobile Dealers Association's Passenger Vehicle Association, the profit margin of China's automotive industry in 2025 was only 4.1%, far below the 6.2% recorded in 2020, marking a historic low since 2015.
Furthermore, public opinion battles have become a new front in this unhealthy competition. Frequent issues such as marketing accounts making disparaging comparisons and even fabricating negative product information have damaged the industry's ecosystem. Since 2025, multiple departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, have launched a specialized campaign to combat unhealthy competition in the automotive sector, focusing on irrational price wars, malicious online commentators, and disparaging practices. Notably, on September 13 last year, eight departments, including the MIIT, jointly issued the "Work Plan for Stabilizing Growth in the Automotive Industry (2025-2026)," emphasizing the need to "further standardize the competitive order of the automotive industry." This includes strengthening cost investigations and price monitoring, enhancing supervision of product consistency, and urging major automakers to fulfill payment period commitments.
Additionally, the work plan calls for a specialized campaign to address online misconduct in the automotive industry, standardize the release of industry data and information, and legally combat false advertising and commercial defamation. Following the implementation of these measures, the blind wave of price reductions has subsided, and the automotive market has gradually shown signs of healthy competition. Public information indicates that during the 2025 industry rectification campaign, authorities removed a significant amount of malicious defamatory content in the automotive sector, banned numerous违规 accounts, and investigated several cases of black public relations and malicious online attacks, with involved companies and individuals bearing corresponding legal responsibilities. However, tracing the origins of online public opinion attacks remains challenging, posing ongoing difficulties for regulators.
On April 11, Su Bo, Deputy Director of the National Manufacturing Power Construction Strategy Advisory Committee and former Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, stated at the High-Level Forum on Intelligent Electric Vehicle Development (2026) that it is advisable to improve market access and fair competition systems, standardize price competition, marketing practices, and quality safety responsibilities, strengthen anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition efforts, and protect the development space for innovative and small-to-medium-sized enterprises. Governance aimed at curbing unhealthy competition should be based on laws and regulations. For instance, the manifestation of unhealthy competition is not typical market price reductions but rather违规, malicious, and disorderly competition. It was suggested that clear criteria for judging disorderly,违规, and malicious behaviors should be established.
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