What makes JD.com's car sales different?

Following its foray into the food delivery business, JD.com has now started selling cars.

On November 9th, JD.com, in collaboration with GAC Group, an automobile manufacturer, and CATL, a battery giant, officially launched the Aion UT super, dubbed the “People's Good Car.” Priced at 49,900 yuan for battery leasing and 89,900 yuan for the whole vehicle, it is significantly lower than the previously market - predicted price range of 100,000 to 120,000 yuan. This has instantly lowered the entry threshold for electric vehicles.

Before the new car went on sale, a special auction on the JD.com platform made this car a hot topic. The No. 001 special - edition of the “People's Good Car” was put up for auction starting at 1 yuan, and participants only needed to pay a 100 - yuan deposit. With such a low participation threshold and cost for backing out of the bid, the auction's popularity soared, and it was finally sold for a sky - high price of 78.19 million yuan.

The auction price of 78.19 million yuan, in contrast to the car purchase threshold of less than 50,000 yuan, created an extreme contrast. Even though the sky - high bid ended with the bidder backing out, the Aion UT super had already gained a great deal of attention before its official launch.

Besides its competitive price, the Aion UT super also has many topics worthy of discussion, such as being produced in the fastest factory where a car can be made in 53 seconds, being the only battery - swapping model in the 100,000 - yuan price range, having a range of 500 kilometers, and a wheelbase of 2750 millimeters, which is beyond its class.

More worthy of attention than the price and performance is that JD.com's car - selling is by no means a conventional new product launch of traditional automobile manufacturers. It is a landmark event for an e - commerce giant to deeply enter the automotive industry. The underlying model reconstruction and ecological integration are brewing an industry transformation comparable to Huawei's cooperation with automobile manufacturers in “car - building.”

JD.com doesn't produce cars, but it's more than just a car transporter

JD.com's launch of the “People's Good Car” is not a spur - of - the - moment decision. Its layout in the automotive field can be traced back to a decade ago.

In 2015, Liu Qiangdong, the founder of JD.com, personally invested in NIO. Zhang Zetian once publicly stated, “He (Li Bin, the founder of NIO) spent 15 minutes explaining his vision for NIO, and my husband spent 10 seconds saying yes.”

After 2018, JD.com began a systematic layout of its core automotive business. Typical actions included establishing the automotive division in 2021, upgrading the previous after - market service brand “Jingchehui” to “JD Auto Care” in 2022, and making the automotive division operate independently in 2023.

This series of organizational structure adjustments and optimizations laid an organizational foundation for JD.com's subsequent intensive cooperation with automobile manufacturers and deepening of cooperation across the entire industrial chain.

On October 14, 2025, JD.com officially announced that the “People's Good Car” was about to be launched, and it would be exclusively sold on JD.com. Now, the price and performance of the new car, as well as JD.com's role in it, have all been revealed.

To put it simply, JD.com doesn't produce cars, nor is it just a simple channel for consignment sales. It's not a “car transporter.” Under the “tripartite co - construction” model with GAC Group and CATL, JD.com has deeply participated in product definition, channel integration, and pricing strategies.

As an e - commerce company, JD.com has a large user base and understands what users want. In the product definition stage, relying on the data of nearly 800 million active users, especially the 3C and home appliance user groups, which have a 45% overlap with potential buyers of 100,000 - 250,000 - yuan family cars.

According to Lu Huan, the person in charge of JD.com's automotive marketing, based on users' concentrated feedback on basic intelligence and range, the Aion UT super has mainly solved two core pain points: “charging anxiety” and “intelligent interaction.”

The biggest highlight of JD.com's car - selling is channel integration. JD.com's core measure is to launch the “People's Good Car Delivery Center” plan to build 10,000 delivery centers. However, this is not about JD.com investing to build new ones from scratch but integrating existing resources.

Miao Qin, the vice - president of JD.com Group, said externally that they would cooperate with high - quality 4S stores and comprehensive automotive service centers across the country to open franchise opportunities, breaking the single - brand authorization limitation of traditional 4S stores through the “cross - brand operation” model.

Under this integration model, automobile manufacturers don't need to invest heavily in building stores and can quickly penetrate the market at a low cost. At the same time, users are no longer restricted by brand 4S stores and can “select cars online, get them delivered nearby, and receive local after - sales service.”

In terms of pricing strategy, JD.com has implemented “price transparency.” All prices are publicly announced online, and its online fixed - price model directly obtains exclusive sales rights from automobile manufacturers, eliminating the price difference made by middle - man dealers.

JD.com's approach cuts the 8% - 15% terminal premium in traditional sales, reducing users' car - buying costs. Meanwhile, since users don't need to compare prices among different brand 4S stores, the car - selection period is expected to be shortened from 2 - 3 weeks to 3 - 5 days.

A “New Retail” transformation in the automotive industry

Before JD.com entered the car - selling business, when it came to the transformative forces in the automotive industry, Huawei's cooperation with automobile manufacturers in “car - building” was undoubtedly a benchmark that couldn't be bypassed.

In the division of labor in “car - building,” Huawei doesn't directly build cars but focuses on “technological empowerment,” empowering automobile manufacturers through the intelligent selection model and component supply model. The cooperation with SERES to launch the Wenjie series of models is a typical example of Huawei's intelligent selection model.

Now, with “ecological empowerment” at its core, JD.com has initiated a “New Retail” transformation in the automotive industry.

JD.com's “New Retail” logic is not about making minor adjustments to channels, pricing, and services but about reconstructing the underlying logic of automobile consumption.

In the automotive industry, the “production - distribution - sales” is a traditional linear chain. JD.com injects e - commerce retail thinking into the automotive industry, attempting to create a closed - loop of “demand - R & D - sales - service,” changing the situation from “users buy what automobile manufacturers produce” to “manufacturers build what users need.”

The launch of the Aion UT super is just the beginning, and JD.com will list more car models. Recently, JD.com has clearly stated that models meeting the “People's Good Car” standard will be launched successively, and different types of models will be introduced according to the diverse needs of JD.com users.

The core of this “demand - R & D - sales - service” closed - loop transformation is simply “one reduction and one increase.”

The “reduction” refers to the distribution link. The intention is to break the monopoly of single - brand 4S stores in channels, the problem of multi - level dealers adding prices layer by layer, and high car - buying costs for users. This strategy aims to improve the car - selling efficiency of automobile manufacturers and make users not worry about “overpaying” or “being tricked.”

The “increase” refers to the full - cycle service link. In the traditional model, sales, delivery, and after - sales often belong to different entities, and users face the problem of service disruption after buying a car. According to public information, JD.com's solution is that when users buy a car on JD.com, they can directly enjoy standardized services from JD Auto Care across the country, including maintenance, repair, and rescue, without having to run around.

If the value of Huawei's “car - building” is to increase the “technological content” of cars, then JD.com's car - selling reshapes the “consumption fairness” of the automotive industry. Together, they are driving the automotive industry to accelerate the shift from “manufacturing - oriented” to “user - oriented.”

From a strategic perspective, entering the automotive industry is also a crucial move for JD.com.

Relying on its self - built logistics and pursuit of quality and service, JD.com carved out a path in the wild era of Chinese e - commerce and won the trust of hundreds of millions of users.

However, as the growth of online traffic slows down, the growth curve of traditional shelf - style e - commerce has gradually flattened. Reflected in JD.com's financial reports, the company's revenue growth rate has declined. From 2021 to 2024, JD.com's revenue growth rate dropped from 27.59% to 6.84%.

The decline in revenue growth rate indicates that it seems difficult for JD.com to regain its previous growth rate relying on its original e - commerce business, and it needs to find new stories to tell. Therefore, whether it's entering the food delivery business or now selling cars in a high - profile way, JD.com is trying to find a new growth curve.

Can this transformation led by an e - commerce giant continuously break through industry problems? The answer is yet to be known. However, it is certain that the “user - centered” transformation direction is irreversible, and the automotive industry is entering a new stage driven by both technology and ecology.

This article is from the WeChat official account “Delin Society” (ID: delinshe). Author: Zhang Jiaru. Editor: Liu Zhentao. Republished by 36Kr with authorization.