The arena of business competition is a constant and dynamic battlefield.
Late last night， Liu Jie， Vice President of Li Auto， shared a screenshot and stated: “Is this the next major direction for smear campaigns against the Li Auto i8?”
He further clarified， “To all those who care about the i8， I want to inform you that user test drives for the i8 have not yet commenced. We also wish to give a heads-up to those who have placed preliminary orders: in-store test drives will officially begin after the launch event on the 29th. We warmly invite everyone to experience it firsthand.”
The accompanying image from his post appeared to show a comment from what is suspected to be a “paid commenter” or “troll”:
“Today I test drove the Li Auto i8 and the Leapmotor L90. The i8 felt like riding on a boat， very wobbly， and not as stable as the Leapmotor L90. On the so-called intelligent driving route， it almost crashed. Other aspects like space and seating were also not as good as the Leapmotor.”
In the comments section， many netizens pointed out the apparent lack of professionalism from the “paid commenter.” As Liu Jie had explained， the i8 had not yet been officially launched， making public test drives (excluding media previews) impossible.
Given that Leapmotor Motors was mentioned in the screenshot， Shen Fei， Senior Vice President of NIO and President of Leapmotor Motors， reposted Liu Jie’s Weibo and commented， “Suggest reporting directly to the police.”
It is understood that both the Li Auto i8 and the Leapmotor L90 are upcoming family three-row electric SUVs.
While their target customer base may differ based on the announced pre-sale prices， the intense competition between these two highly anticipated models is undeniable. The suggestion to “report to the police，” as voiced by Shen Fei， hints at the possibility of underhanded tactics in this fiercely contested market segment. The real question remains whether such strategies are isolated incidents or part of a broader competitive playbook.
