Fortunately, Chery didn't make it up.

If, several years from now, scholars study the "traffic trap" of the current era, I suggest they call this incident the "Chery Paradox": Chery created the most eye - catching label for itself in the world of online traffic with a spectacular failure that was the least "technical" and the least "engineering - oriented".

At the 2025 World Internet Conference, Yin Tongyue said that Chery was "cautious" and "didn't dare to take the lead". He even described Chery's conservative attitude towards installing new technologies in vehicles as "spineless".

Yesterday, Chery's vehicle that slid down Tianmen Mountain seemed to refute Yin Tongyue's view. Even the honest players in the current chaotic new - energy vehicle circle are learning bad tricks.

However, this embarrassing failure unexpectedly catapulted Chery to the peak of online traffic.

Let's look at this issue from a different perspective. If the Chery X3L had climbed Tianmen Mountain yesterday, would it have attracted so much attention?

Obviously not. This reflects a strange phenomenon in the Chinese new - energy vehicle circle -

The vicious competition among various powerful players has led to a series of amplified public opinions. The public waits for the daily drama in the new - energy vehicle field like they're waiting for a TV show. The mentality of gossiping and watching the show is widespread, and the entire social media is filled with negative news about various car manufacturers.

Fortunately for Chery this time, unlike other previous negative incidents that often resulted in nationwide condemnation, the public opinion after Chery's poor performance on the mountain was much more favorable.

I checked the comment sections on various platforms. Although many people were mocking, saying things like "never lost in data, never won in actual combat" and "giving free advertising to Land Rover", there were also quite a few people defending Chery, saying "it's good that they dared to conduct the test. People need the courage to face failure" and "it has power, it's just that the wheels slipped".

Overall, more netizens treated this as a fun thing and turned this incident into a continuous stream of meme pictures and jokes.

Currently, it doesn't seem that Chery is suffering from the consequences of excessive marketing. The comments are polarized, and there are even people speaking up for Chery in the comment section. What problem does this reflect?

01

Firstly, Chery had not participated in the chaotic battles in the vehicle circle and had few enemies, so no one targeted it.

For a long time, Chery has been trying to label itself as a "technology enthusiast" and a company that "works steadily". Its image is like an engineer who works hard in the laboratory, relying on data and performance. It has not had conflicts with other car manufacturers.

Many of its peers are often caught in a never - ending battle of public opinions. For example, Great Wall and BYD had a large - scale online war of words over "emission fraud" and were eventually summoned by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments.

Wei Jianjun, the chairman of Great Wall Motors, once publicly advocated that car manufacturers "speak plainly" and criticized expressions like "far ahead". In addition, at the 2025 Chongqing Forum, the top - level executives of BYD and Geely had a fierce online debate. This year, Li Auto's i8 collision test "offended" Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor and China Automotive Engineering Research Institute, also sparking wide - spread controversy.

So in this incident, the voices speaking up for Chery may not necessarily be true support for its actions. It's more like a kind of tolerance for an "outsider", which also reflects the intensity of the internal strife within the mainstream new - energy vehicle camp.

02

Secondly, in the new - energy vehicle circle, the attacks among companies far outweigh self - promotion. So the entire public opinion field is like a joke - telling arena, and everyone is just watching the show. This situation is extremely harmful to the industry.

Today, with a high degree of homogenization in electric vehicles, when it's difficult to make a decisive difference in performance, range, and intelligent configuration, what can companies do when they have few advantages to boast about?

As a result, the "mainstream narrative" in the new - energy vehicle circle is no longer a serious technical discussion but an entertainment - oriented war of words. The competition of product strength has been reduced to mutual attacks on social platforms and in comment sections. Emotional stances and joke - style deconstruction have become the norm of public opinion.

The most representative example is the recently launched IM LS9. With features like floor heating and a shower, it quickly became the target of online mockery, triggering a "topic frenzy": "Will toilets be standard in electric cars next?" "What a pity, there's still no big bed in the car"...

This is just about watching the fun, but there's an even more excessive form, which is the stigmatization of car owners. Around August this year, a large number of highly similar videos and pictures emerged on social media, labeling Li Auto owners with negative tags like "always parking illegally".

Just a few days ago, when XPeng Motors demonstrated its new robot IRON, its extremely smooth gait raised widespread doubts about whether there was a human inside. Facing the overwhelming public opinion, XPeng finally cut open the "muscles" and "skin" of the robot's leg while it was powered on at the press conference to show the internal mechanical structure and prove its innocence. This scene was so visually impactful that it was described as a technological version of "cutting open one's abdomen to prove one's innocence".

These repeated carnival - like spectacles may bring huge traffic to certain events in the short term, but in the long run, they are constantly eroding the credibility and seriousness of the entire industry.

03

Thirdly, the contrast between Chery's traditional image of being honest and its bold marketing this time has earned it a wave of traffic, albeit not positive traffic.

I noticed that in many public appearances, the image Yin Tongyue painted for Chery was very different from the radical style of this Tianmen Mountain adventure.

At the 2025 World Internet Conference, he openly stated Chery's conservative attitude towards installing new technologies in vehicles and its timidity.

A few months ago, at the 2025 China Internet Civilization Conference, Yin Tongyue publicly called for healthy competition in the industry and promised that Chery would regulate its own behavior, saying that it would "not follow or hype up bad topics that only pursue traffic".

In an earlier interview, Yin Tongyue elaborated on Chery's positioning as a "technology - driven" company. He emphasized that the core of Chery was an "engineer team" whose members dreamed of "fulfilling the dream of making good cars" rather than just pursuing profits. He regarded "technology" as the breakthrough point for the Chery brand, hoping that just like how people associate Volvo with safety and BMW with driving pleasure, consumers would think of technology when they thought of Chery.

However, this fiasco at Tianmen Mountain has turned Chery's carefully cultivated "geek" image into a cruel joke of online traffic -

A brand that touts "reliability" has gained the most attention for an "unreliable" event; a company with a serious image has become the talk of the whole internet in the most unprofessional way.

If, several years from now, scholars study the "traffic trap" of the current era, I suggest they call this incident the "Chery Paradox".

04

Fourthly, it's fortunate that Chery didn't make it up the mountain. This is like pouring cold water on the already crazy marketing in the vehicle circle. If it had made it up, would the next step be to climb the Great Wall? There's no limit to the madness.

Imagine if the protagonist of this fiasco was replaced with any other electric vehicle brand. Would it feel out of place?

This reflects the overall situation of the entire industry. Today, with a high degree of homogenization in electric vehicles, when it's difficult to make a decisive difference in performance, range, and intelligent configuration, marketing has to resort to extreme measures.

Climbing slopes, wading through water, high - altitude tests... These increasingly extreme marketing stunts are essentially part of the same desperate race: on a battlefield where performance parameters can't make a decisive difference, using the simplest and most brutal visual impact to imprint the brand on consumers' already numb nerves.

However, when I put myself in the shoes of the marketing and public - relations managers of car manufacturers, I can understand their helplessness. Who doesn't know that the long - term traffic based on the "sincerity for sincerity" model like Fat Donglai is more valuable and sustainable? But the noose of reality is already around their necks.

Firstly, there's no time. The new - energy vehicle market is like a huge gambling game. Players at the table must achieve sales on a quarterly basis, or they may be forced out. Gaohe, WM Motor, and Jiyue are all bloody examples.

Secondly, there's no unique angle. When all cars use batteries from CATL and BYD and chips from Qualcomm and NVIDIA, it's extremely difficult to tell a unique story.

Thirdly, there's no brand accumulation. A brand needs decades of fulfilling promises to build up its heritage, and most electric vehicle brands are new.

Therefore, driven by the instinct of survival, marketing has inevitably slid into the abyss of performance art. In this process, professionalism has given way to entertainment, and the sense of value has yielded to topic - worthiness.

05

However, even if caught in this short - term hustle and helplessness, electric vehicle manufacturers should always keep in mind this key question: What is the long - term and definite value for users?

It's time for the out - of - the - box marketing in the vehicle circle to take a break. The bigger the stunt, the harder the fall.

Li Auto's "truck collision test" failed to establish a safety benchmark and instead shattered trust under professional scrutiny; NIO's attempt to get closer to users with the "Tomb - Sweeping Festival battery - swapping" idea backfired quickly because it touched on cultural sensitivities; many car manufacturers' promotional posters have "big - font boasting and small - font disclaimers" - highlighting product advantages in large fonts while using almost invisible small print to specify the limitations...

The ultimate competition in the automotive industry should not be a "courage competition" by the marketing department but a long - term race in terms of engineer culture, user experience, and industrial responsibility.

I hope that this fiasco at Tianmen Mountain will wake up not only Chery but also the entire industry that has been kidnapped by online traffic.

The tide of online traffic will eventually recede. When the hot searches change and the noise fades away, the brand that can stay in users' garages and lives will always be the one that offers a unique and definite promise and fulfills it for decades.