Steht das Comeback von Jiyue Automobile kurz bevor? Weder Baidu noch Geely wollen sich geschlagen geben, aber können sie das Vertrauen der Nutzer wiedergewinnen?
Is Jiyue Automobile making a comeback?!
As a high - end intelligent automotive robot brand jointly created by internet giant Baidu and automotive giant Geely, Jiyue Automobile halted production at the beginning of November last year due to issues such as shareholder disputes, internal corruption, and a broken capital chain.
Recently, Xia Yiping, the CEO of Jiyue Automobile, suddenly reposted two Weibo posts. One was "Jiyue's Explanation on Issues Concerned by Users (The 16th)" (hereinafter referred to as: "The Explanation") released by Jiyue Automobile's official Weibo; the other was a "break - up" video of self - media blogger @Technology Princess and the Jiyue 01. The blogger sold the Jiyue 01 they had purchased and highly praised the intelligent cockpit of this car in the video, believing that the intelligent cockpit of Jiyue Automobile could rank among the top three in the new energy vehicle industry. At the end of the video, the blogger mentioned that Jiyue was undergoing a restructuring and there was new capital injection.
(Source: Screenshot from Weibo)
One of these two Weibo posts is a guarantee for consumers, and the other is an evaluation of Jiyue's products and new actions. Considering that Xu Jiye, the former public relations head of Jiyue Automobile, revealed in his WeChat Moments that the Jidu board of directors had approved the restructuring and was discussing the restructuring plan, Jiyue Automobile may be about to win this "comeback battle".
Has Jiyue Won the Comeback Battle? Is Baidu Still Keen on Car - making?
As the new energy vehicle industry has developed to the present, there are not a few vehicle manufacturers that have halted production, and there have also been many reports of comebacks, such as WM Motor, HiPhi, and Neta.
As the new energy vehicle industry matures, resurrected bankrupt vehicle manufacturers may not be recognized by consumers and it is difficult for them to bring profits to investors. It is a huge gamble for investors. For this reason, vehicle manufacturers such as WM Motor, HiPhi, and Neta have negotiated cooperation with investors many times and there have been frequent reports of obtaining investments, but the funds are difficult to materialize and resuming production is still a long way off.
So, the question is, is Jiyue Automobile about to make a comeback or is it just a false alarm?
So far, most functions of the Jiyue Automobile App can be used normally except for services related to car purchases. In the "Explanation (The 14th)" released in May, Jiyue Automobile announced the reopening of the Jiyue Mall. Although cars can no longer be purchased, products such as car models, clothes, and cups are still on sale.
(Source: Screenshot from the Jiyue App)
In early June, after the reopening of the Jiyue Mall, due to a surge in orders, the official was unable to handle them in time and was forced to apologize in the "Explanation (The 15th)". By mid - June, Jiyue Automobile revealed two important pieces of news in the "Explanation (The 16th)".
Firstly, Jiyue Automobile reached an after - sales agreement with Lynk & Co and will provide after - sales maintenance, road rescue and other services for car owners through Lynk & Co's spare 400 hotline. Secondly, after internal deliberation and evaluation, Jiyue Automobile will provide users with an OTA upgrade service for intelligent assisted driving in the second half of the year.
After the bankruptcy of new car - making forces, consumers are most worried about after - sales services related to how long the car can be used. Jiyue Automobile, with the support of Geely, easily addressed users' concerns and even continued to provide OTA upgrades for the intelligent driving function of its products, winning the favor of consumers.
Whether it is the restart of the online mall or the OTA upgrade of the intelligent driving function for products, it shows signs of Jiyue Automobile's comeback. Compared with Geely, which has many sub - brands and sold 725,151 new energy vehicles in the first half of this year, Baidu may be more willing to see Jiyue Automobile make a comeback.
Baidu's main focus in the automotive business is on intelligent driving and Robotaxi. Baidu CEO Robin Li revealed in the Q1 2025 earnings conference call that Baidu's Robotaxi service, Apollo Go, has deployed more than 1,000 driverless cars in 15 cities around the world, and the number of orders in the first quarter exceeded 1.4 million.
(Source: Apollo Go)
The problem is that autonomous driving has not been approved for full - scale implementation, and Robotaxi is only being tested within the rules and it is difficult to make a profit for now. Robotaxi may shine in the future, but its era has not arrived yet.
There are not many best - selling models equipped with Baidu's intelligent driving solutions, and capable vehicle manufacturers are all developing their own intelligent driving technologies. Intelligent driving solution providers such as Momenta, Huawei, and Pony.ai are also competing with Baidu for the market. Baidu needs to be more deeply involved in car - making to increase the market share of its intelligent driving solutions.
Compared with creating a new sub - brand, reviving Jiyue Automobile, which has a certain market reputation, is undoubtedly a better option for Baidu. From Geely's perspective, Zeekr sold 90,740 vehicles in the first half of this year, a year - on - year increase of 3.26%, showing signs of a slowdown in growth. It needs other sub - brands to cooperate with Zeekr to help Geely achieve sales breakthroughs in the high - end market, and Jiyue is also a good choice.
Consumer Recognition is the Prerequisite for Jiyue's Comeback
After the collapse of Jiyue Automobile, Xia Yiping said in an interview that as early as April 2023, Jiyue only had enough funds to survive for two months and it was only by relying on the money in the account that it survived until 2024. At the end of June 2024, he visited Li Shufu, the chairman of Geely, asking Li Shufu to support and finance Jiyue and extend the payment period, and proposed that Li Shufu meet with Robin Li. However, Li Shufu said that Geely was no longer making many external investments, and Xia Yiping was not invited to the meeting between Li Shufu and Robin Li.
In the view of Electric Vehicle Insights, the biggest problem of Jiyue Automobile, which was struggling without enough money, is not the lack of funds. The most fundamental reason why Geely and Baidu are reluctant to continue investing in Jiyue Automobile is probably that they have spent a lot of money but failed to create a best - selling model and there is serious internal corruption.
Xia Yiping said that at the 2023 strategic meeting, he informed all parties that there would be a loss of 7 billion to 7.5 billion yuan in 2024 and the cumulative expenditure in four years would be 16 billion yuan. In the new energy vehicle industry, 10 to 20 billion yuan is just the entry ticket. Even leading new car - making forces such as NIO and XPeng had losses of 22.658 billion yuan and 5.79 billion yuan respectively in 2024. However, behind NIO's losses is the industry's leading charging and battery - swapping ecosystem, and behind XPeng's losses are frequent best - selling models and it is expected to turn a profit this year. XPeng, which also had internal corruption, improved rapidly after Wang Fengying took office.
In the past, losses of several billion to tens of billions of yuan were not a big problem. However, Xiaomi Automobile created the best - selling product SU7 with more than 10 billion yuan in three years, exposing the truth of the industry. As a result, shareholders are no longer willing to continue investing in Jiyue Automobile, which has serious losses and mediocre performance. On the Zhihu platform, many netizens expressed similar views. After the restructuring of the board of directors, Baidu and Geely may insert more senior executives for supervision to ensure the effective use of funds.
(Source: Screenshot from Zhihu)
After deciding to make a comeback, the next problem Jiyue Automobile needs to face is whether consumers are still willing to accept this brand. As for the problem of the dissolution of the core team, considering that Jiyue Automobile can cooperate with Lynk & Co for after - sales service, it is not a big problem to transfer some personnel from the Geely team to help Jiyue Automobile through the difficult period. Many Jiyue Automobile employees have jumped to Geely and it is possible for them to return to Jiyue.
On various platforms, Electric Vehicle Insights found that most comments on Jiyue Automobile's products from netizens are positive. For example, a netizen on an information platform said that Jiyue Automobile has a good appearance and a smooth system, and the intelligent driving function could be used in Shanghai's urban areas a year and a half ago. The intelligent driving and intelligent cockpit solutions provided by internet giant Baidu guarantee the lower limit of the product experience.
(Source: Screenshot from an information platform)
The criticized parts of Jiyue Automobile mainly include overly sci - fi designs such as the half - steering wheel and door without door handles, which have raised consumers' concerns about safety and experience. After all, there are numerous news reports about hidden door handles failing to pop out in car accidents. Not to mention doors without door handles, once the doors are distorted and deformed in a car accident, it is difficult for others to open the doors from the outside for rescue.
Most vehicle manufacturers will experience a period of declining sales before declaring bankruptcy, such as WM Motor and Neta. Bankruptcy is just their obituary. Jiyue Automobile is different. Judging from the sales data, in October before halting production, Jiyue Automobile's sales reached a new high and its product sales generally showed an upward trend. On the Zhihu platform, the most - viewed topic about Jiyue Automobile is also "Why did Jiyue Automobile suddenly go bankrupt?"
(Source: Produced by Electric Vehicle Insights)
These information indicate that it is not consumers who abandoned Jiyue Automobile, but internal problems that led to its sudden demise during the upward period. If Jiyue Automobile can be resurrected, it has a great chance of regaining consumers' recognition.
Re - entering the New Energy Vehicle Market, Will Jiyue Challenge Xiaomi?
Based on the above information, it is not difficult to see that the collapse of Jiyue Automobile is completely different from that of brands such as WM Motor, Neta, and HiPhi. Mass - produced new energy vehicle manufacturers will all experience the stage of "being abandoned by consumers" before going bankrupt, with product sales declining month by month until they are close to zero. Jiyue Automobile suddenly collapsed unexpectedly, catching the entire industry off guard.
During the restructuring of the Jiyue Automobile board of directors, Geely and Baidu will probably insert more senior executives to increase their say within Jiyue. Baidu's support means that Jiyue Automobile can still provide users with leading intelligent driving and intelligent cockpit experiences in the industry, and Geely's traffic support for Jiyue Automobile will help it quickly reshape its brand influence.
(Source: Jiyue Automobile)
Electric Vehicle Insights believes that in addition to Baidu's in - depth involvement in car - making, another reason for Jiyue Automobile's restructuring may be that Geely wants to use Jiyue to compete with Xiaomi Automobile. Xiaomi's positioning is similar to that of Zeekr, but with the brand influence of Lei Jun and Xiaomi, its sales have increased explosively. In the first half of this year, its cumulative sales exceeded 150,000 vehicles, about 1.7 times that of Zeekr.
Geely needs another high - end and youthful brand to relieve the pressure on Zeekr. Lynk & Co has an excellent market performance but has a more conservative image, and the Galaxy brand focuses on the mid - to - low - end market, so neither is suitable for this task. Jiyue Automobile is undoubtedly the most suitable new energy vehicle brand under Geely.
Under the strict control of Geely and Baidu, Jiyue Automobile is expected to get rid of the various drawbacks exposed before and develop more stably and rapidly. It will shoulder the important task of helping Geely compete with Xiaomi Automobile and helping Baidu increase the market share of its intelligent driving solutions.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Electric Vehicle Insights", author: Electric Vehicle Insights. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.