Just four hours before the launch event of the BYD Song Pro DM-i Champion Edition, Great Wall Motors suddenly made a report, pushing their competitor BYD into the hot search rankings.
In the report, it stated, “On April 11, 2023, Great Wall Motors submitted a report to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the State Administration for Market Regulation, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, reporting the issue of non-compliant evaporative pollutant emissions in the Qin PLUS DM-i and Song PLUS DM-i vehicles, which use atmospheric pressure fuel tanks.”
In response, a Great Wall Motors spokesperson said, “Based on the information in the statement, Great Wall Motors is closely following the progress of the case and its handling.”
BYD’s official response quickly followed, stating, “We strongly oppose any form of unfair competition!” BYD questioned the testing vehicle’s compliance with national standards and deemed the test report invalid. They also stated, “We welcome relevant departments to come for investigation, evidence collection, and testing at any time.”
As soon as the news broke, it quickly became a hot topic.
It’s not surprising since in the automotive industry, hidden battles between car manufacturers are common, but it is rare to see a direct report and a public confrontation.
Countless netizens flooded the comment sections on various social media platforms. Experiencing such a spectacle, netizens were completely stirred. Some sarcastically remarked, “In high-end business wars, this is often how things play out.”
In the court of public opinion, netizens were divided into two camps. Some believed, “If there are real issues, reporting them in a timely manner is a good thing for consumers,” while others said, “You can trust BYD’s cars since Great Wall helped with the testing, and it’s just a minor issue.” Some people noticed that Great Wall submitted the report on April 11 but deliberately chose May 25, the day of BYD’s new car launch, to make the report public. This move was mocked by netizens as “unscrupulous” and “a case study in bad PR tactics” for car manufacturers. One loyal Great Wall customer commented, “Great Wall is quite cunning, but it’s interesting,” while among BYD’s user group, the prevailing sentiment was, “With this buzz, BYD may have actually benefited.”
In response, one netizen humorously summed it up, saying, “Doesn’t this remind you of the underachiever in class reporting the first-ranked student for not wearing a red scarf?”
This satire is somewhat fitting. According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, from January to April this year, BYD’s cumulative sales reached 762,400 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 94.30%, while Great Wall Motors’ cumulative sales were 313,100 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 7.18%. Among them, cumulative sales of new energy vehicles were only 42,700 vehicles.
