The claim of "over 10,000 small orders" is false. Automobile companies fabricate data for false advertising. Are they all forced by the cut - throat competition?

For the sake of so - called face, some brand owners can't even uphold basic integrity.

Automobile blogger "Wu Pei" revealed on a social platform that some advertising companies have been preparing plans for "over ten thousand small orders" several months before product launches. The blogger didn't name names, but this practice obviously violates the spirit of industry integrity and fair competition, and may even violate relevant laws such as the Advertising Law.

Screenshot: Weibo @Wu Pei

Since last year, car companies have been accelerating the pace of launching new cars, especially the newly launched high - profile new energy vehicles. Soon after opening pre - orders, they announce very impressive order and locked - in order volumes.

Electric Vehicle Insights used to believe these data whole - heartedly. After all, with moral and legal constraints, there's no need for brand owners to take risks. But now it seems that although car companies may disdain false advertising, they may turn a blind eye to the advertising companies' "over ten thousand small orders" plans for the sake of false prosperity.

Fabricating small order volumes at will? Exploiting consumers' herd mentality

Electric Vehicle Insights has participated in many media meetings with brand executives and has communicated with executives such as Li Bin, Qin Lihong, and He Xiaopeng. When asked sensitive questions about new car order volumes, they are always extremely cautious. Before revealing any specific order data, they always emphasize: "We won't announce unaudited data."

However, as the blogger pointed out, the phenomenon of false "over ten thousand small orders" plans still exists and is even quite popular among car company executives and potential customers.

Nowadays, many new cars claim to have received over ten thousand orders soon after opening pre - orders. This phenomenon is not only common in the mainstream market below 300,000 yuan but also in the high - end new energy vehicle market above 300,000 yuan.

Electric Vehicle Insights believes that this phenomenon reflects the lack of confidence of car brands in the market prospects of new cars. If a brand has enough confidence in its products, why create a best - selling atmosphere through false plans?

The data of over ten thousand orders not only makes executives feel relieved but also gives potential customers the feeling that "everyone is buying, so my choice must be right."

As we know, there is a "herd mentality" in marketing psychology. Many consumers have the mindset that "if everyone says it's good, it must be good." When everyone is buying, they follow suit. It's understandable for some platforms to create "best - selling lists" and "positive - review lists," and some brands' emphasis on "leading in sales" or "used by XX people" also exploits this mentality. Car companies creating the illusion of "exploding orders" also has this consideration.

Image source: Doubao AI

Why do car companies dare to fabricate data? Because there are benefits without risks

So, why do advertising companies dare to manipulate the "small order volume"? After careful consideration, Electric Vehicle Insights found that the reason is simply the extremely low cost. The cost of false plans is much lower than the effect of real marketing, but it brings high short - term attention.

The small order volume of a new car is essentially a direct reflection of consumers' attention and interest in the new car. The higher the small order volume, the more consumers are willing to pay a deposit to express their purchase intention. This not only indicates that the new car is popular but also puts pressure on competitors.

However, it should be clear that the small order volume is just a small - amount prepayment from consumers. The amount is small and can be fully refunded at any time. The data that can truly reflect the market performance of a new car are the order data after users pay the "large deposit" and the official delivery volume data.

That is to say, in the eyes of some advertising companies, since the small order volume itself cannot accurately reflect the real market performance of a new car, false operations on the small order volume don't seem to bring obvious negative impacts. On the contrary, this false plan may attract more consumers to pay the large deposit by creating a false impression of a hot - selling product, thus increasing the large order volume to some extent. It's a "win - win" situation.

Moreover, it's very common for there to be a significant gap between the large order volume and the small order volume. After all, some users who placed small orders may choose to cancel due to changes in price, configuration, etc.

Facing possible false advertising, as ordinary consumers, we should maintain a rational attitude towards the advertising data. Before paying the large deposit, we should fully consider personal preferences and our own car - using needs when buying a car to avoid impulsive consumption and basically avoid being affected by false advertising. If you want to refer to the market situation of a product before buying a car, Electric Vehicle Insights suggests you pay attention to the order data released by official institutions.

Under the involution, the bottom - line of some car companies keeps dropping

Actually, the false advertising of "over ten thousand small orders" is just a dirty trick used by some brands that can't gain an advantage in market competition. Before this, the real business wars in the automotive industry have never been short of "absurd events."

At first, to attract consumers, car companies started a "price war." The prices of products dropped, and the frequency of the word "interest - free" in the financial policies provided by car companies gradually increased. According to the "2024 China Automobile Circulation Industry Annual Report" released by the China Automobile Dealers Association, in the first 11 months of last year, the "price war" led to a cumulative loss of up to 177.6 billion yuan in the new car retail market.

In the view of Electric Vehicle Insights, the "price war" at least brings significant benefits to consumers and can also force car companies to increase R & D investment and launch more cost - effective and competitive products. The advantages and disadvantages of the "price war" are probably evenly balanced.

However, some brands have racked their brains to make their development seem in line with the overall situation of the car market.

In May this year, Wei Jianjun, the chairman of Great Wall Motors, criticized the phenomenon of "zero - kilometer used cars," which attracted wide attention in the industry. "Zero - kilometer used cars" seem to be used cars, but their actual mileage is extremely low. Some dealers license new cars in advance to beautify the sales data and then sell them as used cars in the market.

The prices of these cars are much lower than the guide price, which may be a blessing for users with limited budgets. However, the price is the loss of exclusive owner rights. From an industry perspective, zero - kilometer used cars not only affect the order of the new car market but also squeeze the profit margin of the used car market. In the long run, neither new cars nor used cars will sell well.

Image source: Doubao AI

Moreover, the "kicking someone when they're down" marketing method also occurs occasionally.

In August, a large number of negative evaluations of Ideal car owners appeared on online platforms. Many of these were just netizens' jokes. However, according to the information collected by Ideal's legal department, more than 40 self - media contents criticizing Ideal car owners appeared on just one platform, and the titles were highly consistent.

Normally, it's unlikely for netizens' jokes to be so similar. At most, it's just the re - posting of various materials. But such a concentrated release is very in line with the characteristics of "buying promotional articles" and is very likely to be an organized illegal and criminal act, as Ideal's official statement said.

Neither this kind of "kicking someone when they're down" marketing method nor the "zero - kilometer used cars" created to beautify sales volume is beneficial to the development of the industry. Neither car companies nor consumers in the industry ecosystem have gained any substantial benefits from them.

In recent years, the call for "anti - involution" in the car circle has been getting louder. Executives such as Li Shufu, the chairman of Geely Holding Group, Zeng Qinghong, the chairman of GAC Group, Yin Tongyue, the chairman of Chery Automobile, and Zhu Huarong, the chairman of Changan Automobile, have all emphasized their opposition to vicious competition and all bottom - less business behaviors.

In the view of Electric Vehicle Insights, these chaos in the automotive industry are just the manifestations of involution. Solving these chaos can only "treat the symptoms but not the root cause" of improving the car - circle ecosystem. Some car companies should realize as soon as possible that they are the key to solving the involution in the car circle. Focusing all efforts on technology and pulling the industrial chain back from the "price war" and "marketing war" to the "value war" is the only key to returning the automotive industry competition to a healthy state.

The chaos is being corrected, but is it hard to completely eliminate?

Nowadays, relevant departments have stepped in to rectify the chaos in the automotive industry, such as exaggerated advertising of intelligent driving, price fraud, and defaulting on payments to suppliers. However, as we all know, the automotive market is highly competitive with many participants, and not all brands can become the industry leader.

Those "underperforming" brands that focus on short - term interests and lack a long - term development vision may unconsciously adopt some unfair competition methods to seize market share. This shows that the chaos in the automotive industry is hard to completely eradicate and can only be corrected later.

However, consumers have become more rational when choosing cars and are more intolerant of emerging car brands. This rings an alarm for the "underperforming" brands in the car market: if they don't adjust their brand development focus in time, they may decline on their own without their competitors taking action.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Electric Vehicle Insights" , author: Electric Vehicle Insights. Republished by 36Kr with permission.