This development is part of Baidu’s strategic expansion of its autonomous ride-hailing service platform, which now ensures uninterrupted service to meet diverse travel needs, including those at night.

In a series of strategic moves, Apollo Go introduced fully driverless rides across Wuhan’s Yangtze River in February 2024, showcasing its advanced capability in navigating complex terrains.

This was closely followed by the initiation of a robotaxi pilot operation on highways leading to Beijing Daxing Airport, positioning Beijing as the first world capital to embrace airport robotaxi services. These achievements highlight Baidu’s commitment to enhancing urban mobility and safety through technological innovation.

Wuhan, a leader in smart transportation, has seen autonomous vehicles cover over 3,378.73 kilometers in testing, serving a population of over 7.7 million.

With a fleet of 300 fully driverless vehicles, Apollo Go’s operations in Wuhan are a testament to Baidu’s pioneering role in the autonomous driving industry.

Additionally, in observance of International Women’s Day, Apollo Go has launched a campaign offering female users priority service during late-night hours, further emphasizing its user-centric approach. This service has garnered widespread approval, with a remarkable 97.12% five-star rating from users.

Since its inception, Apollo Go has provided over 5 million cumulative rides, reflecting Baidu’s commitment to expanding autonomous ride-hailing services across China.

With operations in over 10 cities, including Beijing, Wuhan, Shenzhen, and Chongqing, Apollo Go stands out as the premier provider of fully driverless robotaxi services, underscoring Baidu’s leading position in China’s autonomous driving evolution.

In 2023, BYD showcased its remarkable performance, selling 3.02 million vehicles and securing the top spot in the Chinese market. Notably, its exports surged by 334% year-over-year, making it the fastest-growing car manufacturer among the top ten global brands.

This achievement signifies that one in every five new energy vehicles (NEVs) sold globally and one in three hybrids worldwide is a BYD. Within China, BYD claims one in three NEV sales and one in two plug-in hybrid sales.

This victory marks the end of a 39-year dominance by joint venture brands in the Chinese market, a monumental shift for local manufacturers. BYD stands out as the first and only Chinese brand to enter the global top ten auto sales list, with a continuously growing market share among these elite ranks.

BYD’s strategy of “lower price, no lower specs” is backed by its entry into the global top ten in sales, a testament to its leadership in the NEV sector.

BYD has sold over 3.2 million plug-in hybrid models to date, and in the fourth quarter of 2023, its pure electric vehicle (EV) sales surpassed Tesla, claiming the title of global leader in EV sales.

Several BYD models have dominated their respective segments: the Seagull leads in the A00 category, while the Yuan PLUS and Song PLUS are champions in the A-level pure electric and SUV categories, respectively.

The Qin family tops sedan sales, and the Tang DM9 is the leader in the MPV segment, securing BYD’s position as a “top scholar” across various markets.

BYD’s sales achievements are underpinned by its multifaceted strength.

In 2023, the company unveiled groundbreaking technologies like Yi Si Fang, Yun Nian, and DMO, and in early 2024, it announced a new strategy for the intelligent development of NEVs.

Backed by 11 research institutes, over 90,000 engineers, and cumulative R&D investments exceeding 100 billion, BYD’s innovations are well-supported.

BYD’s control over product pricing and its comprehensive industry chain integration, coupled with the benefits of scale, have enhanced its cost-control capabilities.

This strategic advantage not only secured BYD’s leading position in China’s auto market in 2023 but also allowed it to launch an array of “Glory Edition” models in 2024, challenging joint venture fuel vehicles in a significant battle.

In 2014, Tencent’s mobile revenue reached 22.171 billion yuan (US$3.571 billion) with popularization of WeChat. Now WeChat and Weibo are the two most active mobile apps in China. WeChat is a relatively new app compared with Weibo, but it far surpassed weibo in the number of users and monthly usage.

WeChat has become an important part of China mobile users’ life, and it has influenced their daily life from many aspects. It can take the role as an instant messeger and social networking platform. People can communicate with others whenever they like, and share with friends what they did, what they like, what is interesting…WeChat Official Accounts contribute a lot in this process.

WeChat official accounts integrate closely with friends circle; 20% WeChat users read news or messages through Official Accounts while 80% others would read in Moments. When shared more frequently, it would be read more. According to iReseach, 6 messages/articles were read by WeChat users on average per day; 4% WeChat users even read 20 and more per day.

Official Accounts take the role as connecting-to-all, people could connect with news, companies or services by following Official Accounts (including service accounts, subscription accounts) or Enterprise Accounts.

Nearly half of WeChat official accounts users had 6 to 15 official accounts. Most users regard it as a useful tool, and they can use it according to their own interests. 88.9% users are willing to recommend Official Accounts to their friends or families, and almost 99% users will follow more official accounts.

WeChat are gradually improving itself; new features allow users to pay for goods, taxes, services, and connect with computers, videos and etc in an easier way. For example, translation of WeChat Moments posts, fast sending photos while in chat, and importing chat history to new photos. In China, almost 330 million people on average use WeChat every month, of which WeChat Official Account users have taken up 79.3%. With the development of mobile internet and convenient mobile equipment, users spend more time on WeChat surfing or communicating. Advertisers could seize this opportunity to popularize their products.

Automotive advertising is active on the platform of WeChat. Recently, many automobile advertisements have appeared on WeChat, users’ comments and sharing could help them reach more users. WeChat Traffic, an official acount of WeChat, which can provide instant search of road traffic, vehicle violation inquiry, traffic cameras and so on, has become a typical platform for automotive advertising. Here are some comparisons between WeChat Traffic and other automotive information applications.

WeChat Traffic and other Official Accounts have accumulated a large number of car owners who want to change or buy a new car.

Nearly 80% car owners pre-order car insurance through WeChat Traffic, far more than other accounts or apps. Nearly 70% of WeChat traffic users are male, and 93% of them are 25 years old or above. High education users make up of 78%, higher than others.

With new development and improvement in WeChat, more users would be attracted to WeChat and official accounts, which could be a good opportunity for advertisers.

Read more: How WeChat Drives Viral Marketing of Local Specialities

With the booming of the new emerging market, automobile has become less expensive, and the internet has brought an open platform which makes it more reachable to families. China Automotive Technology Research Center estimated last year that automobile sales volume will reach 25.5 million in 2015 and 35 million in 2020 with average annual growth rate of 7%.

Tencent made a research on China’s automobile consumption after surveying 33,729 internet users, 83.5% of which are between 21 to 45 years old, 30% with high school degree, 34.8% with a bachelor degree or higher. The survey was made across over 20 provinces in all levels of city tiers.

According to the research, the number of car-owners in the second or third tier cities have similar purchase intentions as that in the first-tier cities; about 30% users plan to become car-owners in one year, especially in second and third tier cities. There is still a large potentially bigger automobile market in China.

Also read: Chinese Luxury Traveler Insights 2015

Since the start of 2015, the growth rate of Chinese automobile transaction volume had slowed down its growth. In June 2015, the growth rate of the automobile market was merely 1.4%, 7 percentage points lower than June 2014.

Less developed cities might make a breakthrough for the downturn market. Automobile market in first-tier and second-tier cities shrunk gradually, while buyers in third-tier to six-tier cities increased.

According to data from Alibaba, about 67% automobile buyers who were also Taobao users were from less developed cities. Mainland China has 657 cities while many third-tier, fourth-tier, fifth-tier and sixth-tier cities were small in size and dispersion in the location. Sometimes automobile companies could not obtain a clear and correct evaluation on local market. Social media could be used for penetrate third- to six-tier cities further.

The post-90s would be another important pillar in the future automobile market. In June 2015, the post-90s buyers accounted for 29%, 8 percentage points higher compared with January 2014. The ratio of the post-80s and post-70s auto buyers decreased.

Also read: China’s Mobile Car Calling Market from 2014 to 2015

China has fallen from top place to fourth in Credit Suisse consumer confidence scorecard, with most barometers slipping closer to mid-range among emerging market countries.

Chinese middle-class earner with income in the range of RMB 5,500–9,000 showed the greatest change, with optimism declining 7%–16%.

China’s anti-corruption measures have had a significant impact on “grey income” and related expenditures, resulting in the declining optimism from personal finance improvement over the next six months according to Credit Suisse Emerging Consumer Survey 2015.

Implicit “hidden welfare” like expenditure coupons, holiday allowances and other subsidies has been largely removed, especially in the state-owned enterprises, which account for over 20% of retail sales

The expenditure on automobiles in 2014 was rising with 37% respondents having bought or owned automobiles according to Credit Suisse survey.

Also read: China Economy Statistics for 2014

Since 2000, China automobile market has been developing rapidly. As of 2013, average sales volume of automobile increased by 19.8% annually in China. However, the growth slowed in recent two years. China Automotive Technology Research Center estimated that automobile sales volume will reach 25.5 million in 2015 and 35 million in 2020 with average annual growth rate of 7%.

Among China internet users who purchased cars online, 68.8% of them bought their first automobile in life while 23.2% upgraded the old one. Besides, most China internet users would choose to buy new automobile other than second-hand one according to research conducted by iResearch and Yiche.com.

82.8% of respondents purchased automobile for self-driving trip while 77.8% for transportation to work.

China internet users’ automobile budget is between RMB50,000 and RMB200,000 accounting for over 70% in 2014. Automobile has been the mass consumer product in China nowadays. 64.2% of China internet users who purchase cars again would choose the ones with price over RMB150,000 (USD 24,140).

SUV was the first choice for most China internet users (36.9%) who planed to purchase automobile in 2014, followed by mid-sized vehicle (33.2%) and compact vehicle (24.9%).

77.5% of China internet users gained automobile purchase information from internet. People around and auto shows can have also impact on automobile purchase while outdoor ads and traditional media have relatively weak influence.

72.7% of China internet users would access automobile news on automobile vertical websites, followed by portals and search engine.

For most internet users in China who purchased cars online, cross-device access has become the mainstream. Desktop and laptops are still the most regular device for users to access automobile information. With China mobile internet’s development, mobile device are gradually playing a more important role than desktop.

When purchasing automobile, China internet users’ top 3 concerns are fuel consumption, configuration and price. For first purchase of cars, China internet users focus on fuel consumption and price while for those purchase another automobile, they focus on automobile’s configuration, safety, space and brand.

In 2014, 29.8% of respondents bought SUV, which is the favored one for China internet users.

Among respondents who bought automobile in 2014, 89.5% of them purchased in 4S stores and about 70% of them are automobile vertical websites users. The way of purchasing automobile online is becoming popular in China as e-commerce is key part of Chinese people’s life.

Chinese users displayed the highest level of engagement and interactions with brands on social media, according to PwC research. And, a McKinsey survey pointed out that social media has a greater influence on purchasing decisions for consumers in China. During 14 days’ promotion on Weibo, a total number of over 60 thousand cars were ordered with a total worth of over RMB9.2 billion (US$1.5 billion).

In China, mobile internet users exceeded 500 million in 2013 with penetration of 80.9%. The growth rate of mobile internet users is higher than the one of total internet users.

Compared with China internet users on desktop, the ratio of young male married ones with high education background, high income on mobile device is higher who tend to choose sports cars, imported automobile, and middle and high end automobiles according to iResearch data.

Here is a list of top 10 automobile brands on desktop and mobile device in 2014:

From January to September 2014, the index of replacing passenger vehicle in China continuously rose with monthly compound growth rate of 5.5% according to Yiche.

More online car buyers bought the first car online, especially among freshman for working, newlyweds and new parents. And people with successful career usually upgrade their old ones; family with more than one kid tend to purchase another one.

Also read: China Automobile Market Overview in August 2014

Lei Jun wrote a blog post a year ago about meeting Elon Musk, the CEO of Telsa motors and he said he’s really interested in Tesla’s cars. This week, a currently circulating story on China internet reported Xiaomi is about to mass manufacture smart cars.

Xiaomi automobile is internally code named Misila, phonetically similar to Telsla with starting price of only RMB 39,999. The manufacturing partner is rumoured to be a company starting with “B”; and, BYD fits the profile.

If the rumor is true, the price is very attractive and Xiaomi is likely to continue selling cars with its usual online marketing tactics. Lei Jun, Xiaomi’s founder and CEO, denied the rumour this April saying “Xiaomi does not currently have a plan to be in automobile business”; but that was eight months ago.

In Q3 2014, top 3 automobile websites by total user reach on desktop were Autohome.com, BitAuto.com and PCAuto.com with 47.68 million, 35.6 million and 32.48 million respectively according to data from EnfoDesk.

China top 3 automobile websites all had strategies for competing for traffic: Autohome.com reached Baidu Alading platform (it is Baidu’s search open platform which shares data and display hidden wed information to obtain valuable traffic); BitAuto.com cooperated with 360 onebox; PCAuto.com cooperated with Sougou.

Good performance on desktop will stimulate competition for traffic on mobile device among automobile websites. Automobile.com occupied the first display of mobile search results; BitAuto.com shifted to mobile Baidu Alading; PCAuto.com cooperated with Shenma search. Search engines’ revenue from mobile search was the key driving force for China search engine market in Q3 2014.

Except large traffic of top 3 automobile websites in Q3 2014, they must keep their advantages and show some unique features for users. Good content and active online community are the keys. China automobile websites could promote automobile online purchase to develop automobile e-commerce.

Social media is another platform that got automobile industry’s serious attention in Q3 2014. During 14 days’ promotion on Weibo, a total number of over 60 thousand cars were ordered with a total worth of over RMB9.2 billion (US$1.5 billion). Chinese users displayed the highest level of engagement and interactions with brands on social media, according to PwC research. And, A McKinsey survey pointed out that social media has a greater influence on purchasing decisions for consumers in China.

Also read: China Automobile Market Overview in August 2014

In September 2014, total online display advertising spend of automobile brands in China exceeded RMB570 million (US$92.78 million).

Among all the automobile brands, Chevrolet spent RMB26.35 million ($4.28 million) in online advertising in September, ranking first, followed by Audi and KIA K4 according to data from iResearch.

Automobile website and web portal platforms are the top two ad placement channels for automobile companies in China in September 2014. The advertising spend on automobile website exceeded RMB260 million (US$42.32 million), accounting for 45.3% of the total spend, followed by web portal (40.7%).

Also read: China Automobile Market Overview in August 2014