Did Zeekr backstab car owners? BYD and Tesla have done it too! An article on backstabbing by car manufacturers

Have you ever been backstabbed by a car manufacturer?

The backstab here is not "fraud", but is mainly reflected in the price adjustment. On August 13, the 2025 Zeekr 001 was launched, triggering a large-scale rights protection movement by old car owners, which is the latest case.

The new Zeekr 001 has undergone major upgrades to its intelligent driving system and intelligent cockpit, but the price has not changed. This was originally a good thing, but since the old model was only launched at the end of February this year, and it has only been half a year, it is considered a "pitfall" by many old car owners.

Zeekr 001 has launched two new models in half a year, and has made major performance upgrades, which is actually equivalent to a disguised price cut. Although manufacturers have the right to set prices independently, from the emotional point of view of consumers, spending more than 200,000 yuan to buy a car, and then reducing the price by tens of thousands in half a year, it is inevitable to feel disappointed.

In fact, Zeekr is not the only company engaging in price backstabbing in the automotive industry. Over the past few years, this has become an industry norm.

In addition to Zeekr, BYD's Formula Leopard has also recently caused consumer protests due to price issues. On July 29, the price of the entire Leopard 5 series was reduced by 50,000 yuan, which triggered strong resistance from many old car owners.

The price reduction of Leopard 5 is greater than that of Zeekr 001. The reason why it did not lead to large-scale rights protection incidents may be because its monthly sales volume is only over 2,000 units, with fewer users, so it did not cause any waves.

More than just Leopard 5.

Friends who follow BYD know that over the past two years, the sales of BYD’s main models have been declining.

Take BYD Han as an example. The suggested retail price was 239,800 yuan at the beginning of 2020, and then the price dropped all the way. From the Champion Edition at the beginning of 2023 to the Honor Edition at the beginning of this year, the starting price is now only 169,800 yuan. Every price adjustment will actually "backstab" a group of users who did not know about the price reduction in advance.

The original BYD Han, whose main model was priced at more than 250,000 yuan, was a mid-to-high-end model with a strong face attribute. The current Han, after several rounds of price cuts, has long lost the halo of competing with the 56E.

In addition to BYD, another new energy vehicle giant, Tesla, is also a "habitual offender" of backstabbing its users.

In fact, Tesla is the first new energy brand in China to cause consumer protests due to price cuts. As early as 2021, many users held banners in protest in front of Tesla stores.

Who would have thought that Tesla was once an out-and-out luxury brand, with prices close to those of Mercedes-Benz and BMW of the same level, and was initially seen as a toy for the rich, but now it is competing with domestic cars in the price range of more than 200,000 yuan. Old money is suddenly not old anymore, which has caused dissatisfaction among many T fans.

Another brand that changed its brand positioning due to price cuts is Zhiji, a subsidiary of SAIC. Zhiji was originally positioned as a high-end brand focusing on the 300,000+ yuan market. The starting price of its first model, Zhiji L7, was as high as 368,800 yuan, directly matching the 56E. However, in just two years, its starting price dropped to 299,900 yuan.

Another main model of Zhiji, the Zhiji LS7, which focuses on the medium and large SUV market, had a starting price of 309,800 yuan when it was first launched on the market. However, less than a year later, Zhiji launched another medium and large SUV, the Zhiji LS6. Its overall performance is not worse than that of the Zhiji LS6, but the starting price is directly set at 229,900 yuan, making those users who bought the Zhiji LS7 regret it.

The most outrageous one should be HiPhi Auto. The starting prices of its first two models, HiPhi Z and HiPhi X, are both over 500,000 yuan, and the top-end models are priced as high as 800,000 yuan. It claims to be a million-level luxury car, but the starting price of its third model, HiPhi Y, which was launched in July 2023, has dropped to 339,000 yuan.

Deep Blue SL03, a subsidiary of Changan Automobile, also had similar problems. At the beginning of 2023, Deep Blue SL03 announced a large-scale price cut, with the highest reduction reaching 42,000 yuan, which also caused old car owners to defend their rights.

According to statistics from relevant media, "excessive price reduction" has long been the hardest hit area for complaints about new energy vehicles, including BYD and Tesla, which have been in the market for many years, as well as BB AThis new energy business has never been able to be developed.

Take BMW, which announced some time ago that it would give up price wars, as an example. Its main pure electric model, the BMW iX3, had a starting price of 405,000 yuan when it was launched in February this year, but half a year later in July, the actual starting price was less than 300,000 yuan; the BMW i5 was launched in January this year, and it has only been half a year, but the starting price has dropped from 439,900 yuan to about 360,000 yuan.

It can be said that among the mainstream brands currently active in the market, except for a few brands such as NIO and Ideal that insist on high-end positioning, most brands have similar back-stabbing behaviors, making consumers miserable and even afraid to easily try new energy vehicle models.

Of course, new energy vehicle manufacturers are not the only ones who backstab users. Traditional fuel vehicle manufacturers have also become masters of backstabbing in the past two years.

For example, the ninth generation Toyota Camry was widely advertised when it was launched in March, and many consumers believed that its price would stabilize. However, the starting price of this car has now dropped from the original 171,800 yuan to 141,800 yuan. In just a few months, the user's back-stabbing cost has reached 30,000 yuan.

Honda is not far behind in this regard. Its main model, Honda Accord, launched two high-end models with a starting price of 197,800 yuan in January 2024, but now the starting price has been reduced to 145,800 yuan.

As a commodity, it is normal for car prices to fall.

But the problem is that this kind of price reduction has often exceeded the normal range of consumers' acceptance. A drop of tens of thousands of yuan in a few months would make anyone stamp their feet.

In the past, when buying a car, people would consider the issue of resale after a few years. Now consumers dare not consider these issues anymore, because the car will drop in value significantly after a few months.

In addition, this kind of price reduction cannot help users avoid being cheated.

Many manufacturers cut prices without any warning, so much so that many users see a price reduction the day after they pick up their cars. Moreover, after the price reduction, very few manufacturers compensate users, which has caused widespread resentment among consumers.

From the perspective of market development, backstabbing is somewhat reasonable, especially for new energy vehicles. Their original prices were inflated and out of their proper value range. After fierce competition, prices have returned to normal, which is actually a healthy development.

It is just the price of industry development, and consumers should not bear it. Can you appease old car owners while suddenly reducing prices? Or, let's agree on how long it will take for the big price reduction to happen, just like e-commerce, and set up a price protection period. If you buy within a certain period of time, you must compensate for the price reduction.

In the final analysis, consumers can accept the rapid price drop of new energy vehicles. What they really oppose is the car manufacturers' behavior of cutting prices too quickly and then turning a cold shoulder after the price cut. They can't stand the feeling of being abandoned after being treated coldly.

When building a brand, respecting users is always the first element. However, some of our brands really fail to do this. They are always full of tears when they want to make money, but when they want to pass on the blame, they always turn a blind eye.

Good luck to those brands with two faces!

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.