It is the domestic brands that offer rewards and engage in black public relations. Why are joint venture brands always silent? Here is the reason!

The “anti-gang storm” in China’s auto industry doesn’t seem to be stopping.

Following BYD's offering a reward of 5 million yuan for clues about "black public relations", Huawei's Hongmeng Intelligent Driving and Zeekr followed suit. This public opinion counterattack led by local car companies formed a sharp contrast with the silent Japanese, German, American and Korean car companies. While Chinese brands were fighting "hidden arrows" in the public opinion field, the silent attitude generally adopted by multinational car companies was like a prism, reflecting the multiple mirrors of global automotive industry competition.

The fierce competition in China's new energy vehicle market has spawned a unique industrial form. In 2024, BYD's sales exceeded 4 million vehicles, and Zeekr achieved a year-on-year growth rate of 87% to 220,000 vehicles. The top ten automakers occupied more than 80% of the market space, which makes every percentage point of gain or loss a matter of life and death.

The high-pressure environment has created a hotbed for "black public relations". Li Yunfei, general manager of BYD's brand and public relations department, once pointed out on Weibo: "A certain car company is using black public relations methods to belittle, demote and maliciously slander the company's brand and products."

In contrast, multinational automakers have a relatively weak presence in China's new energy market. In 2024, with the exception of Tesla, the sales of new energy models of various multinational brands are mostly invisible.

When the battlefield shifts from "competition for incremental growth" to "fighting for existing stock", Chinese automakers on the offensive are more likely to become the target of public opinion .

For multinational brands that stick to their basic market of fuel vehicles, public pressure comes more from product quality crises. Such problems are often resolved through recalls rather than public opinion wars.

BYD's case of suing a self-media and winning 2.01 million yuan in compensation exposes the sensitivity of new brands to the public opinion field. These brands that have emerged from the edge of the fuel vehicle era must not only break the low-end stereotype, but also fight against the stigmatization of technology plagiarism, reflecting some of the fragility of the new generation of car companies in the process of building brand authority.

Multinational automakers enjoy certain inexplicable "immunity to public opinion" accumulated over history.

A German luxury brand was exposed for falsifying emissions data in 2024, but the volume of social media attention was only a fraction of that of an autonomous driving accident of a domestic brand in the same period. This asymmetric public opinion treatment stems from consumers' tolerance expectations for century-old brands, just like people will tolerate the occasional mistakes of old restaurants, but will nitpick about Internet celebrity restaurants.

The deeper reason is that multinational automakers have built an ecological moat covering media, think tanks and industry associations through a three-decade joint venture system.

Behind this difference is the collision of two cultures. Chinese car companies shoulder the national strategic mission in the new energy track and must defend their technological reputation with a clear stand; while multinational car companies, as market participants, pay more attention to maintaining a business-friendly image.

The deeper game lies in the fact that the secondary dissemination of accusations of black public relations against Chinese auto companies by certain foreign media has itself become a tool of geopolitical competition.

The "silence" of multinational automobile companies should not be simply interpreted as their calmness in staying out of the matter.

In the era of smart electric vehicles, when Volkswagen invested heavily in Xiaopeng and Toyota used Huawei's smart cockpit, traditional giants are using capital ties to resolve competitive conflicts. This higher-dimensional competition and cooperation may be the ultimate solution to cure the chronic disease of "black public relations".

It can be said that the "sky-high bounty" offered by Chinese automakers is not only a helpless move to deal with the current predicament, but also a hammer to break the ice in reconstructing the industrial order. When this battle extends from legal proceedings to technical confrontation, and from companies fighting alone to industry collective action, its significance has long surpassed the victory or defeat of individual cases. Perhaps one day, when Chinese auto brands truly have the right to speak in the global value chain, the dark arrows of black public relations will automatically lose their target, because the rule makers never need to struggle in the quagmire.