Auto companies have long suffered from intense internal competition. Recently, several senior executives of auto companies publicly 'criticized' Lixiang Auto for releasing weekly sales rankings every week.

On July 27, Qin Lihong, the founder and president of NIO, spoke harshly in an interview with the media, stating that NIO has never authorized any organization to release weekly rankings with NIO's name. These numbers have never been approved by us, and the weekly sales data of our company is known to no more than ten people within our company. First, weekly sales data is not serious; second, our brand has not authorized it. If you are a national statistical agency, there's nothing we can do about it. But if you're a third-party company, why are you using our data to publish weekly rankings? Can you please remove NIO's name?

Li Bin, the founder, chairman, and CEO of NIO, further stated that as a listed company, all data must be audited. He asked, "Can we please stop publishing weekly rankings? For auto companies, monthly sales statistics and releases are already very harsh. If NIO becomes number one in sales, we will never publish weekly rankings," Li Bin said.

However, after Qin Lihong and Li Bin simultaneously expressed their refusal to have NIO's name appear on the weekly sales rankings, Lixiang Auto still released the rankings on time on Tuesday.

On July 30, Lixiang Auto's weekly sales data from July 22 to 28 showed that it sold 12,800 vehicles, surpassing Wenjie and ranking first among new force brands in sales. NIO, on the other hand, ranked third with weekly sales of 5,400 vehicles.

Lixiang Auto's move once again sparked dissatisfaction among NIO executives, who directly named Li Xiang in a post. On the afternoon of July 30, Ma Lin, assistant vice president of NIO Brand and Communications, posted on social media, saying that competing in weekly rankings is somewhat low-level competition. "Brother Xiang @Li Xiang, stop it already. The mission of Chinese auto companies at present is to achieve technological breakthroughs through research and development, isn't it? Let's all recharge together!"

Subsequently, Yang Xueliang, Senior Vice President of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, retweeted the post in response, clearly stating, "I also oppose weekly rankings."

That same evening, Xiaopeng Motors Chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng also expressed dissatisfaction with the weekly sales rankings. He Xiaopeng pointed out that the intelligent driving environment in the United States differs significantly from that in China, with the American industry focusing more on perfecting end-to-end intelligent driving solutions. However, upon returning to China, he observed that rival companies were still busy with sales rankings and focused on making money rather than technological innovation and breakthroughs, which is not how technology competition should look.

In response, it was reported that on the evening of July 30, Li Xiang, CEO of Lixiang Auto, posted a story picture of "burying one's head in the sand" on WeChat Moments, seemingly addressing other brands' dissatisfaction with the weekly sales rankings.

"Image source: Internet" It is understood that Lixiang Auto has been releasing weekly sales rankings since April last year, with two temporary suspensions during this period, the most recent being a voluntary suspension on March 26 of this year, which was resumed after seven weeks. During these seven weeks, Lixiang Auto's first pure electric vehicle, the MEGA, failed to perform well in the market, and its position as the top-selling model was "taken" by Wenjie. At that time, Li Xiang posted that there was excessive focus on sales internally and that they would lower sales expectations and desires to return to healthy growth. Sales volume is indeed a reflection of an auto company's competitive strength, but in the long run, focusing more attention on technological innovation is extremely beneficial to both auto companies and consumers. It is worth noting that the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee held a meeting on July 30, stating that industry self-discipline should be strengthened to prevent vicious "internal competition." What are your thoughts on Lixiang Auto's weekly sales rankings?