“The jeers back then were deafening…”
This viral line trending across short-video platforms has lingered in the minds of all staff at AITO for an entire month.
The cause traces back to a month-long public saga surrounding AITO’s recruitment of a former lead designer from Ferrari—a story that has finally come to a definitive end.
On June 4, Zhao Changjiang, Executive Vice President of AITO, dropped a bombshell on Weibo: the brand had hired a former chief designer from Ferrari. The announcement instantly ignited public debate, drawing widespread discussion from Ferrari China executives, rival automakers and automotive influencers, accompanied by waves of skepticism.
Exactly one month later, on July 9, Zhao Changjiang posted a group photo taken during work with designer Werner Gruber on social media. Gruber previously served as Senior Lead Exterior Designer at Ferrari, contributing to iconic models including the LaFerrari, FXX-K and Portofino.
Strictly speaking, Gruber never held the official post of Ferrari’s chief designer, though his job title does include the term “lead”. What lies at the heart of this incident? A positive brand campaign meant to introduce top international talent devolved into a public he-said-she-said spectacle played out before the whole internet.
A decade ago, this would have been a routine piece of industry news. Yet in the past two years, mocking and sniping have evolved from occasional spats into the daily norm within China’s automotive circle: press conferences built around belittling competitors, executives trading barbs online, and automated smear articles churned out by AI tools on an industrial scale.
From Cordial Rivalry to Hostile Confrontation
The automotive industry was once far less antagonistic. While brands competed, they often treated one another with mutual respect and decency, with legacy foreign luxury brands setting a positive example in brand communication.
One of the most memorable moments dates back to BMW’s centennial celebration in 2016, when Mercedes-Benz released a tribute poster with the line: “Thank you for a century of competition. The past 30 years without you would have been lonely.”
Netizens even created a witty reply poster reading: “You were born before I came to be; I arrived when your prime had faded.” It was an era marked by harmonious coexistence, where premium German rivals competed yet kept their rivalry gracious and aligned.
Chinese domestic car brands once shared this spirit of camaraderie. When Geely unveiled its Galaxy product line in 2023 with the tagline “The Galaxy, a starry sky for all to gaze upon”, it sparked a heartwarming chain of collaborative poster exchanges among homegrown automakers.
Back then, competitors were peers marching side by side. Brands strove to outdo one another by refining their products rather than smearing rivals. They learned from each other’s strengths to elevate the overall value of the domestic automotive sector.
Today, however, the atmosphere has shifted entirely. Some senior executives openly disparage rival vehicles in owner groups; industry forums devolve into public arguments between brands; company founders accuse rival firms of hiring online trolls to spread malicious rumors on social media. Mutual respect has given way to accusation and insult, replaced by calculated scheming among industry peers.
New product launches frequently feature aggressive rhetoric such as “crush” and “dominate” to belittle competing products. Multiple automakers have reported pre-emptive negative content targeting their new models, detailing fabricated flaws and predicted failures up to 72 hours ahead of an official release.
In January this year, China’s flagship investigative news program Focus Report aired a special exposé laying bare rampant unhealthy competition plaguing the sector: top management personally stoking online conflicts, AI-powered mass disinformation campaigns, and ordinary car owners becoming targets of online harassment. Rooted in distorted cutthroat rivalry, these malpractices mislead consumers and hinder high-quality development of China’s automotive industry.
A widely circulated report claiming eight car companies faced official investigations over remote battery capacity locking via OTA updates was later verified by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers as completely false. Tracing the origin revealed most such fake news stemmed from black PR operations driven by inter-brand competition.
Instead of pouring billions into research and development, some automakers spend merely hundreds of thousands on online negative publicity to tarnish competitors’ brand reputation. While it is reasonable for domestic brands to benchmark global giants to expand market share, attacking fellow Chinese manufacturers represents a misplaced and counterproductive strategy at a time when indigenous automakers ought to unite for collective progress.
To Honor a Rival Is to Honor Oneself
2026 marks the start of a stock competition era for China’s automobile market. With every manufacturer vying for greater sales volume, mocking competitors has become the lowest-cost tactic for differentiation. As one industry insider put it: “I do not need to prove I am better—I only need to convince customers that you are worse.”
As product iteration speeds up drastically with dozens of new vehicles launching weekly, grabbing public attention at minimal cost has become a top priority for many brands, and online flame wars are the cheapest way to generate buzz.
When companies fixate on appearing superior rather than genuinely improving their own products, the industry loses its innovative drive. The result is increasingly homogenized new models that fail to deliver compelling value propositions to consumers.
It is critical to recognize China’s standing in the global automotive landscape. From January to May 2026, domestic brands captured 71% of China’s passenger vehicle market share, surging to 73.8% in May alone. Auto exports have reached historic heights, exceeding 5.096 million units in the first half of the year and breaking the half-year export threshold of 5 million vehicles for the first time.
Having outperformed foreign brands in domestic sales, China’s auto industry now sits firmly within the world’s top automotive echelon. Its real competitors are century-old international luxury marques and multinational automotive conglomerates—not fellow Chinese manufacturers.
Wasting resources on internal friction amid global market expansion is not merely a failure of vision, but a strategic misjudgment. To evolve into world-class automotive brands, local manufacturers must first learn mutual respect: respect competitors’ products, respect consumers’ judgment, and uphold their own brand integrity.
Regulators have made their stance clear. On June 11, 2026, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State Administration for Market Regulation summoned automakers suspected of irrational competitive behavior, ordering strict compliance with relevant laws, standardized pricing practices and a fair marketplace built on quality and fair pricing.
The MIIT pledged stricter crackdowns on wasteful internal competition within the auto sector. Nevertheless, external supervision can only address symptoms. True competition lies in product strength, not online mudslinging.
China’s automotive industry has built formidable advantages across power batteries, smart chips, in-vehicle large language models and AI chassis systems. Translating these strengths into lasting competitiveness requires shifting from price-driven low-end rivalry to value-based competition centered on technology, quality and service.
China’s all-time annual vehicle sales peak of 28.879 million units in 2017 and the record high of 34.4 million units in 2025 were never achieved through online quarrels. Consumers base purchase decisions on build quality, technical capability, cost performance and after-sales service—a timeless market principle.
Past industry milestones prove that market expansion and brand empowerment are always driven by product competence, not hostile rhetoric. Rather than draining energy on verbal conflicts, domestic automakers ought to return to solid, down-to-earth development. Let technology and quality speak louder than words, and win market recognition through genuine strength.
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