Zhou Hongyi finally achieved his wish and became a "53 year old new online celebrity" certified by the short video platform.
During the Beijing Auto Show, two photos went straight out of the circle.
One is Xiaomi Auto Booth, where Lei Jun, the "traffic champion" in the circle of cars, stood surrounded by people and announced that Xiaomi SU7 had locked 75000 units in 28 days.
One is in the Dongfeng Auto Exhibition Area. Zhou Hongyi, in front of all the onlookers, climbed onto the roof of the Dongfeng Highland Lion luxury model and played the role of the "red man model". The "long gun short gun" under the car was shot around the audience, which is very similar to the stills of the film "Beautiful Legend of Sicily".
It is worth pondering that these two entrepreneurs who were once "amazing" on the Internet have become "top class" in the automotive industry.
What role does Zhou Hongyi, who has been committed to the network security industry for a long time, play in the automotive industry, as opposed to Lei Jun's public declaration of cross-border car building and becoming a deep participant in the new energy vehicle industry?
investor? Nezha's "propaganda ambassador"?
Last November, Zhang Yong, CEO of Nezha Motors, had a live conversation with Zhou Hongyi.
At the beginning of the dialogue, Zhou Hongyi said that he had never had the opportunity to experience the Nezha car given by Zhang Yong, because he did not have a driver's license and did not know where to buy it.
Zhang Yong hurriedly answered, "You can't buy this. You have to take an exam."
To say that Zhou Hongyi, who does not even have a driver's license, has nothing to do with the automobile industry, there are many inaccuracies in this assertion.
More important than whether the "boss Zhou Hongyi" with a driver has a driver's license, Zhou Hongyi is rich. It is also because of his "money" that Zhou Hongyi can become a supporter behind the new energy vehicle enterprises as an "investor".
As the popularity of dividends in the Internet era gradually fades, many Internet giants quickly turn around and actively seek the second growth curve. At the same time, the blue ocean of the new energy automobile industry is becoming more and more turbulent. The idea of doing business or even becoming an OEM is slowly emerging in the minds of many Internet giants.
Now, Xiaomi has directly established Xiaomi Automobile. Baidu and automatic driving technology are "hand to hand". Huawei not only cooperates with many automobile enterprises, but also becomes a competitive player on the global intelligent automobile track with automatic driving solutions. As an Internet manufacturer who also took advantage of the "East Wind" in the Internet era, 360 also hopes to "share" in the new energy vehicle industry.
In 2021, when Lei Jun announced that he would "pledge the whole reputation of life" and devote himself to "the last venture in life", Zhou Hongyi was also trying to find an entrance to lead 360 into the new energy automobile industry.
In the same year, 360 chose to invest 2.9 billion yuan of its own funds in Nezha Auto, indirectly holding 16.594% of the latter's equity, becoming the second largest shareholder of Nezha Auto.
However, in the days after that, Nezha Automobile did not bring more ideal benefits to 360. On the contrary, before investing in Nezha Auto, 360 was at least profitable, although its performance continued to decline. After investing in Nezha Auto, 360 began to lose money.
The financial report shows that in 2022, 360 million will achieve an operating income of 9.521 billion yuan, a year-on-year decline of 12.54%; Net profit loss was 2.204 billion yuan, down 344.23% year on year. This is the company's first loss since 2014.
In the financial report, 360 pointed out that the loss caused by Nezha Automobile was the main reason for the group's overall loss. Of the investment loss of 361.293 billion yuan, Nezha Automobile brought 593 million yuan.
The 2023 annual performance forecast shows that 360 million is expected to achieve a net profit of about - 550 million yuan to - 370 million yuan; Non net profit deducted is about - 850 million yuan to - 570 million yuan. In other words, 360% net profit has been in deficit for two consecutive years.
However, it is worth noting that although there is a rare news of 360% capital increase in Nezha Motors in the future, Zhou Hongyi's enthusiasm for supporting Nezha Motors has not decreased.
Zhou Hongyi has repeatedly expressed his recognition of Nezha Auto in public. Even during the Beijing Auto Show, Zhou Hongyi appeared at the Ideal Auto Booth, and he did not hesitate to claim in front of Li Xiang that Nezha L is a small ideal L5.
After all, the poor performance of 360 is by no means the "pot" of Nezha Auto, which has a lot to do with 360's own business. It can only be said that Zhou Hongyi has found an inappropriate "ship" in the blue ocean of new energy automobile industry.
However, Zhou Hongyi does not just hope to gain profits by investing in new energy vehicle enterprises. In the vast ocean of new energy vehicle industry, Zhou Hongyi wants to play a role not only as an investor, but also as a deep participant.
But unlike Lei Jun, he chose not to build cars, but to be the "helmsman" of future smart car safety based on the "old line" of "360" - safety.
In the same year when he invested in Nezha Auto, Zhou Hongyi once called for attention to the network security of smart cars at the NPC and CPPCC. Since then, Zhou Hongyi has been running around in many public places to publicize the technology accumulation and first mover advantage of 360 in the field of automobile network security.
At the beginning of March this year, 360 and Nezha jointly released NETA GPT, a large model product, to apply advanced AI technologies such as 360 Brain, 360 Search and 360 Digital Man to cockpit and other fields, accelerating the landing of "equal rights in science and technology".
That is to say, in addition to the return on investment, Zhou Hongyi also hopes to build successful cases of automobile network security and intelligent cockpit through cooperation with Nezha Automobile, so as to promote 360 to become an important link in the intelligent supply chain of new energy vehicles.
However, in fact, compared with the initiatives and strategies of 360, the industry is now more full of news about how Zhou Hongyi himself "turned the clouds" and "gave directions" in the circle of cars.
"Military adviser"? Car review blogger?
As Zhou Hongyi himself said publicly, "I am very strange to the automobile industry, and even know nothing about it."
However, this "outsider in the circle of cars" is always observing, commenting and even trying to guide the development of this industry in different dimensions. Among them, Zhou Hongyi contributed a series of marketing suggestions to Zhang Yong.
Earlier, Zhang Yong said to the public that Zhou Hongyi has outstanding insights in Internet marketing, which can bring new marketing, new ideas and new methods to Nezha Automobile.
Now it seems that this is true.
From 2023 to April this year, Nezha Automobile still failed to reverse the decline in sales.
On February 2 this year, Zhang Yong found Zhou Hongyi to "learn from", and posted a group photo of the two on the social platform, saying frankly: "Learn from the old Zhou!"
Then on February 24, Zhang Yong released his microblog for public review and reflection, and said that "marketing problem is one of the biggest sticking points of Nezha Auto."
Zhou Hongyi once publicly criticized Nezha Auto during the live broadcast and asked Nezha executives to "learn from Xiaomi and learn more from Lei Jun".
Obviously, Zhang Yongqian accepted Zhou Hongyi's suggestion modestly and responded: "Accept the criticism of old Zhou, learn from Lei Jun in marketing, and don't lose face!"
Learning from Lei Jun has never been a "disgrace". The question is, how much can Zhang Yong learn from Lei Jun's marketing skills that even Liu Qiangdong admires?
As a result, Zhang Yong stood on the opposite side of the "masses" in anger because he was accused by netizens of crossing his legs during the live broadcast, and publicly posted a microblog reply: "The live broadcast was compared by a gang of licking dogs."
Although Zhang Yong subsequently apologized for this, this negative public opinion effect has already formed.
Since Zhang Yong can't understand marketing, Zhou Hongyi will come by himself.
It has to be said that Zhou Hongyi has been deeply implementing the spirit of "lifelong learning" and is always on the road of progress. After being admitted as a doctor of Tsinghua University, Zhou Hongyi still found Yu Minhong and tried to learn from Dong Yuhui how to do live broadcast and become an online celebrity.
Compared with the video traffic data released by Zhou Hongyi on the dither platform, the obvious difference is that the traffic of videos with AI and big models as the main content is mostly lower than that of videos with cars as the main content.
Internet traffic does not come out of nowhere. In recent months, Zhou Hongyi has been outspoken about the experience of "asking for a car" from car companies on both offline public occasions and online social platforms.
For example, on April 18, Zhou Hongyi released a short video saying that he would give up the traditional luxury car, sell the Mercedes Benz Maybach that has accompanied him for nine years, and replace it with a domestic new energy intelligent connected car.
At the same time, Zhou Hongyi directly shouted to the car companies: "Anyone who is willing to take this opportunity to provide me with an experience car, and every day I use it for commuting, I will not refuse."
Apart from Lei Jun's statement that "Xiaomi SU7 is designed for users who pursue driving pleasure and is not suitable for Zhou Hongyi, who can't drive but only sits in the back seat", there are still many car companies responding.
After all, the "uncle in red" who plays with traffic needs to do something, and car companies also hope to take advantage of the east wind to send their cars to the consumer market.
Among them, the official Weibo of Yangwang Auto left a message saying "Yangwang U8 has arranged for you"; Chen Zhuo, president of Avita Technology, said that a newly launched Avita Huijin version 12 could be arranged; Yang Xueliang, senior vice president of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, recommended Geely's Jikr 009 Brilliance to Zhou Hongyi; Deng Chenghao, CEO of Deep Blue Auto, also advertised his own brand Deep Blue G318, and said that he could provide one for Zhou Hongyi to experience at his own expense; Xiaopeng Auto and Jikrypton Auto sent Xiaopeng X9 and Jikrypton 009 to Zhou Hongyi downstairs... Dongfeng Nano, Haobo and other brands also responded positively.
This grand occasion is just like Lei Jun's joke: "Are all the people who come down from the third or sixth floor to see off the bus waiting in line? Are they dazzled?"
Soon, the term "Zhou Hongyi sells cars" hit a hot search.
From 660 to 9.9 million transactions, luxury second-hand car auction sellers?
As for the reason for selling Maybach, Zhou Hongyi once published a long explanation on the social platform.
He believes that the standard of defining luxury cars in the past will be overturned by China's new energy vehicles.
He said: In the past, we defined luxury cars according to the following criteria: high price, large body, rich interior, good engine power, brand, etc. Now the definition of luxury cars in the market has changed.
There may be two new standards: security and intelligence. This is a subversive reshaping of the automobile industry by digital technology and artificial intelligence technology, and a huge opportunity for China's intelligent connected vehicle industry.
"This time I sold Maybach, I hope it means the end of an old era and the beginning of a new era," said Zhou Hongyi.
The definition of luxury car will not be easily rewritten because of the opinions of one family, nor will the change of the old and new era of the auto industry take place because Zhou Hongyi sells a car.
Zhou Hongyi's Maybach auction, which seems to be on the rise, is actually the mutual achievement of the new energy vehicle industry and Internet traffic.
So, who has achieved?
Zhou Hongyi set the starting price of the used car Maybach at 600 yuan. This pricing seems arbitrary, but in fact it is enough gimmick for this auction.
It is reported that the seats at the auction site were occupied early, and even many spectators were stopped outside the guardrail of the 360 headquarters square.
After several rounds of price calls, Zhou Hongyi's Maybach was finally auctioned by Chu Zhenliang (twitter blogger @ Chairman Chu - Tian'an used car) at a high price of 9.9 million yuan. From 600 yuan to 9.9 million yuan, such a high premium enables Zhou Hongyi and Chu Zhenliang to earn enough traffic outside of this Maybach.
It is reported that more than 50000 people poured into the live broadcast room of Chu Zhenliang's personal dithering account, with a net increase of 400000 fans overnight. At present, the number of fans of the entire account is still in the growth channel.
It can be predicted that Zhou Hongyi and Chu Zhenliang will have a series of actions when the second-hand Maybach is officially handed over. The wealth of "sky shattering traffic" will fall on them again.
However, the crisis of dangling cars fell behind for a while, and many netizens complained on the social media platform: "It should not be the case that the joint bidders deliberately made it", "They also said that they should choose a lucky day to deliver the car, and I'm afraid it will not be the last hot search", "Zhou Hongyi can only rely on these means to get hot now".
It is reported that Zhou Hongyi once said that his goal this year is to have 10 million fans. According to his current 6.25 million fans, the next year is less than half. Zhou Hongyi has completed nearly 63% of this goal.
There is no doubt that whether it is "Beijing Auto Show model", taking the initiative to ask for a car test from a car company, or auctioning off a second-hand Maybach to try to redefine luxury, Zhou Hongyi has indeed found his position in the auto industry as "Uncle in Red", and the traffic password is at his fingertips.
However, we still have to face the fact that more important than Zhou Hongyi's role in the auto circle, Zhou Hongyi wants to find his role in the auto industry for 360.
After all, "Uncle in Red" does not intend to become an out and out Internet celebrity. As the boss of a technology company, he still depends on the technology products of the technology company.
When on earth can Zhou Hongyi and 360 succeed in making real money in the automotive industry? (Geshi Auto Park Jingming)
