Autohome Inc. operates as an online destination for automobile consumers in China.
Through the company’s three websites, autohome.com.cn, che168.com, and ttpai.cn, accessible mainly through PCs, mobile devices, its mobile applications, and mini apps, the company delivers comprehensive, independent, and interactive content and tools to automobile consumers, as well as a full suite of services to automakers and dealers across the auto value chain.
The company began in 2008 as a content-led verti...
Autohome Inc. operates as an online destination for automobile consumers in China.
Through the company’s three websites, autohome.com.cn, che168.com, and ttpai.cn, accessible mainly through PCs, mobile devices, its mobile applications, and mini apps, the company delivers comprehensive, independent, and interactive content and tools to automobile consumers, as well as a full suite of services to automakers and dealers across the auto value chain.
The company began in 2008 as a content-led vertical media company focusing on media services (‘1.0 Media’). In 2016, it launched its ‘4+1’ strategic transformation initiative (‘2.0 Platform’), building a platform that covers ‘auto contents,’ ‘auto transactions,’ ‘auto financing,’ and ‘auto lifestyle’ to transform and upgrade from a content-led vertical company to a data and technology-driven automotive platform. Since 2018, the company has focused on developing a full suite of intelligent products and solutions with artificial intelligence (‘AI’), big data, and cloud technologies (collectively, ‘ABC’) to build an integrated ecosystem that connects all participants in the auto industry by providing end-to-end data-driven products and solutions across the value chain (‘3.0 Intelligence’). It has been leveraging its ‘software as a service’ (‘SaaS’) capabilities together with its core AI, big data, and cloud technologies (‘4.0 ABC + SaaS’) to both expand its product and service categories and refine its existing ones, and has upgraded its strategies to further develop the ecosystem around its offerings since 2021 to better serve stakeholders across the auto value chain, including consumers, automakers, dealers, and other related eco-partners.
The company generates revenues from media services, leads generation services, online marketplace, and others.
Media Services: Through the company’s media services, it provides automakers with targeted marketing solutions in connection with brand promotion, new model release, and sales promotion. The company’s large and engaged user base of automobile consumers provides a broad reach for automakers’ marketing messages.
Leads generation services: The company’s leads generation services enable its dealer subscribers to create their own online stores, list pricing and promotional information, provide dealer contact information, place advertisements, and manage customer relationships to help them reach a broad set of potential customers and effectively market their automobiles to consumers online, and ultimately generate sales leads. The company’s leads generation services also include used car listing services, which provide a user interface that allows potential used car buyers to identify suitable listings and contact the relevant sellers.
Online marketplace and others: While the company continues to strengthen its media and leads generation services, it is also further developing its online marketplace and other businesses. These businesses focus on providing facilitation services for new and used vehicle transactions, and other platform-based services for new and used car buyers and sellers. Through the company’s auto financing business, it provides services to its cooperative financial institutions that involve facilitating the sale of their loans and insurance products to consumers and used automobile sellers. From the end of 2017, the company has been offering data products, which leverage its intelligent big data analytics capabilities and massive pool of accumulated user data to provide end-to-end data-driven products and solutions for automakers and dealers across different stages of the value chain. It also provides comprehensive auto-related services to its users by integrating TTP’s offline vehicle examination, ownership transfer services, and other ancillary services with its online services.
Delivery of Content
The company delivers its auto-related content to users mainly through its websites, mobile applications, and mini apps, and its interactive online community, all of which are powered by its data and technology capability, as well as the extensive accumulated user data. It has access to valuable data of users’ needs, behaviors, and patterns in their automotive ownership life cycles, which allows it to accurately and effectively customize content and commercial offerings. The company’s accurate and comprehensive user profiling enables it to continuously enhance user experience and improve its ability to attract and retain customers.
Websites
The company’s user-centric approach has successfully attracted a growing user base with a steady increase of daily active users to its websites. The company’s autohome.com.cn website targets a wide spectrum of automobile consumers with a focus on new automobiles, and its che168.com and ttpai.cn websites focus on used automobiles.
Most of the content on the company’s websites is tagged by vehicle models to facilitate easy user access. It has developed and is continuing to improve its user intelligence engine to analyze user browsing behavior and preferences, and prioritize the content that the user is likely to find relevant and interesting. A user who searches for or navigates to a page for a specific vehicle model will be provided with links to relevant content, such as vehicle specifications, photos and video clips, reviews, competing vehicle models, and listing and promotional information from local dealers. Users can easily compare competing vehicle models and brands for price and specifications to make informed purchase decisions. In addition, these user behavior data are summarized and analyzed on a regular basis to improve user experience and provide consumer intelligence to its customers.
To provide a superior experience to the company’s users, it labels sponsored content as advertisement to maintain objectivity.
Mobile Websites and Applications
For mobile users, the company’s content can be accessed mainly on its websites, on its mobile applications, and on its mini apps. It has made significant efforts in recent years to optimize the mobile version of its websites to display its content and develop and enhance the functions of its mobile applications to capture a greater number of users that access its services through mobile devices. For example, according to QuestMobile, its mobile daily active users amounted to 77.5 million in December 2024. The company was among the earliest in its industry in mainland China to introduce both iOS- and Android-based applications to allow users to easily access its content. Users can conveniently enjoy features available on its mobile websites and applications from their mobile devices, such as reading articles, checking vehicle prices and model parameters, viewing pictures, viewing dealer’s information, visiting its Autohome Mall, and participating in forum discussions.
Content and Tools
The foundation of the company’s platform is a large amount of originally-generated content, professionally-generated content, user-generated content, as well as a comprehensive automobile library and extensive automobile listing and promotional information organized around its automotive information database. Leveraging the company’s content and user data, as well as its technological capabilities, it also offers a series of intelligent tools on its platform to provide its users with a smooth and efficient purchase experience.
Originally-generated Content
The company’s originally-generated content is created by its dedicated editorial team and includes automobile-related articles and reviews, pricing trends in various local markets, photographs, video clips, and live streaming. This content covers topics throughout the automobile ownership life cycle, from automobile research, selection, and purchase to ownership and maintenance, and to eventual replacement. In 2018, it launched a new channel focusing on new energy vehicles to accommodate the increasing interest and attention of its users on new energy vehicles. The company’s review writers obtain first-hand experiences by test-driving many newly released vehicle models provided by various automakers. It also has an AH-100 Vehicle Rating System which applies standard criteria to measure a comprehensive set of performance-based features of the vehicles on sale, such as safety, dynamics, fuel consumption, comfortableness, and driving experience. The company’s AH-100 Vehicle Rating System helps automobile consumers make an easier choice when selecting vehicles to purchase. In 2021 and 2022, it further launched its motorcycle model library and new energy vehicle library, respectively, to expand its product service and offerings to cater to users’ diverse needs. In 2024, it gradually unveiled a series of professional IP matrix focusing on smart vehicles and new energy vehicles, etc., to create a rich array of high-quality content and attract more users. In addition, it actively supports national trade-in policy by aggregating subsidy policies and promotional offers from manufacturers through the company’s online platform and organized the ‘Hundred Cities Trade-in for New’ series of auto shows offline. By doing this, it accelerates demand for vehicle upgrades and trade-ins and helps facilitate the implementation of the government policy. The company’s editorial team at its Beijing headquarters and sales representatives located in 227 cities throughout mainland China work closely with automakers, dealers, and other industry participants to create automobile-related articles. Although automakers may provide it with sample vehicles to test drive, it reviews all new automobiles independently, based upon its teams’ experience and from its users’ perspective.
The company follows well-developed guidelines in creating and publishing content with attention to details, such as the angles of photos, image sizes, and the time between industry events and the relevant article publication. These practices enable the company to streamline its editorial process and quickly and efficiently make national and local content available to its users, while ensuring that it maintains high-quality standards and a consistent user experience.
Professionally-generated Content
In 2016, the company launched an open content platform to invite key opinion leaders and influential bloggers or writers in the automotive field to contribute their high-quality professional reviews, analyses, and insights on automotive-related topics, including vehicle reviews, industry trends, auto photography, maintenance, and others. The company’s diversified professionally-generated contents complement its automotive ecosystem strategy and bring its users enriched and customized content consisting of high-quality articles, photographs, video clips, and live streaming. As of December 31, 2024, it had 32,484 professional content contributors on its platform.
User-generated Content and User Forum
The company’s platform hosts an open and vibrant community of automobile consumers, from first-time buyers to sophisticated automobile enthusiasts. The company’s user community centers around its discussion forums, which are organized based on vehicle models, cities and regions, and various topics of interest. Registered users utilize its discussion forums to share a wide range of automotive experiences, such as driving experiences and usage and maintenance tips. Users also frequently provide reviews of automobiles or automotive products and services, post questions, and receive answers from fellow forum members. The company continues to enhance user engagement and participation in the content generation and delivery process. For example, it launched the lite version of the Autohome application to attract younger audiences.
The company strives to ensure the credibility, appeal, and usefulness of its forums by identifying verified automobile owners and empowering selected registered users as forum moderators. The company’s verified automobile owners are registered users whose vehicle ownership has been confirmed through various channels. The company’s forum moderators are generally active registered users with significant forum post counts whom it has identified as being reputable automobile enthusiasts within its online community.
As of December 31, 2024, the company had over 223.6 million registered users. As the company’s user base has grown and its user engagement and forum activity have increased, its database of user-generated content has expanded, which in turn has attracted more users.
The company has taken a series of measures to ensure that there is no inappropriate, illegal, or offensive advertising content published on its platform, particularly content contributed by users. It has dedicated advertising content reviewers who review the content posted on its platform and block illegal and inappropriate advertising content by using its sensitive words filter. It gives a conspicuous reminder in its user agreement and the content uploading page that users should ensure that the content uploaded is legal and does not violate any third-party rights. Information published by automobile dealers on its platform is accompanied by a warning that the information comes from dealers, and its truthfulness, accuracy, and lawfulness are the responsibilities of the publishers, not the platform. In addition, it works with relevant government authorities in policing the content on the company’s platform and removes illegal content, and provides regular training on content monitoring to relevant employees.
Automobile Library and Listing
The company had one of the most comprehensive automobile libraries within its industry in mainland China, with approximately 84,721 vehicle model configurations as of December 31, 2024.
The company includes a broad range of specifications covering performance levels, dimensions, powertrains, vehicle bodies, interiors, safety, entertainment systems, and other unique features, as well as automakers’ suggested retail prices. The company’s database also includes a large amount of new and used automobile listings and promotional information. With the comprehensive and continuously updated listing information, users can conveniently search for up-to-date information of vehicle models without having to visit each individual dealer at their local showrooms. In addition, the company’s automotive library contains a significant amount of user-generated content originating from its user forums. Leveraging its innovative AR- and VR-related technologies, it utilizes three-dimensional technology to restore the actual appearances of vehicles and present stereoscopic 720-degree reviews of automobiles on its platform. Compared to the traditional two-dimensional picture-based display of automobile appearances, the AR- and VR-based vehicle review functionality on the company’s platform enables users to have a real perception of the specific vehicles they are interested in buying, and has greatly enhanced user experience. In 2021, it also launched its motorcycle model library and car-in-use model library to diversify its content offering, and in 2022, it launched a new energy vehicle library to expand its product service and offerings to cater to users’ diverse needs.
Interactive Tools
Leveraging the rich content and user data on the company’s platform and its advanced AI and data technologies, it has developed a portfolio of intelligent tools to facilitate its users’ potential vehicle purchases. For example, CarPlan is an interactive AI-based tool trained by the rich data it has and can answer a variety of questions from potential purchasers and recommend suitable choices to users. The company’s car model comparison tool, on the other hand, allows users to select a number of car models and compare them by a variety of metrics and other information, thus enabling users to make an informed purchase decision based on extensive and immediately available comparative data. Additionally, in response to frequent fluctuations in vehicle pricing, it introduced a number of innovative tools, including a price-trend tracker and a comprehensive model comparison tool. The former enables users to intuitively see pricing trends, while the latter provides enhanced detailed comparisons to improve the comparison and decision-making process.
Services
Media Services to Automakers
Leveraging the company’s large and rapidly growing user base and utilizing the user intelligence data it has collected, it provides its advertisers with a broad range of advertising solutions and tools. The company’s advertisers under media services consist primarily of automakers and automobile brands’ regional offices. The majority of the company’s online advertising service contracts involve multiple deliverables or performance obligations presented on PC and mobile platforms, and in different formats, such as banner advertisements, links and logos, other media insertions, and promotional activities that are delivered over different periods of time. As millions of consumers visit the company’s platform for automotive information, it has become an increasingly important medium for automakers and automobile brands’ regional offices to conduct their advertising and marketing campaigns.
Automakers typically utilize the company’s advertising services for brand promotion, new model releases, and sales promotions. The company’s large and growing automobile purchase- and ownership-oriented user base provides a broad reach for automakers’ marketing messages. The company’s automotive content delivery and advertisement management platform allows it to segment its user base in a number of different dimensions, including by users’ geographical locations and specific automotive interests, and enables it to place advertisements with targeted audiences likely to be receptive to particular advertising messages.
Leveraging the company’s large user base and extensive forum posting data, it provides automakers with more reliable and timely business insights than traditional customer surveys or other post-sales feedback channels. For instance, it analyzes user posts in its forums to evaluate consumer behavioral and preference responses. In addition, it organizes various types of offline national or local events for its automaker customers through its online marketing campaigns and user forum activities to complement its advertising services. For example, it helps automakers increase their brand awareness and execute sales promotions by organizing large-scale test driving activities for specific vehicle models in multiple cities across mainland China. Users can conveniently participate and interact with automaker representatives through its forums.
In 2024, 101 automakers operating in mainland China, which include independent Chinese automakers, joint ventures between Chinese and international automakers, and international automakers that sell their cars made outside of mainland China, purchased media services from the company, respectively. As is customary in mainland China, it sells its advertising services and solutions primarily through third-party advertising agencies that represent the automakers and automobile brands’ regional offices. It typically enters into individual advertising agreements with the third-party advertising agencies. Although it sells its advertising services and solutions to third-party advertising agencies, it considers the automakers and automobile brands’ regional offices, who are the main decision makers as to whether to place advertisements on its websites and mobile applications, to be its end-customers.
As a result, the company’s sales efforts focus primarily on automakers and automobile brands’ regional offices. However, through direct contact between its sales team, advertisers, and advertising agencies, it is able to maintain good relationships with existing advertisers and their advertising agencies. The majority of the advertising content on its platform is provided by advertisers or created by advertising agencies or other third parties.
Leads Generation Services to Dealers
The company’s leads generation services enable its dealer subscribers to create their own online stores, list pricing and promotional information, provide dealer contact information, place advertisements, and manage customer relationships to help them reach a broad set of potential customers and effectively market their automobiles to consumers online, and ultimately generate sales leads. The company’s leads generation services also include used car listing services, which provide a user interface that allows potential used car buyers to identify suitable listings and contact the relevant sellers. It provided leads generation services to 24,900 dealers in 2024.
Dealer Subscription Services
The company provides subscription services to dealers which allow them to market their inventory and services through its websites and mobile applications, extending the reach of their physical showrooms to potentially millions of internet users in mainland China and generating sales leads for them. The company’s dealer subscription services are delivered through its dealership information system mainly on a fixed-fee basis, typically for a period of one year. Through the web-based interface of the company’s dealership information system, dealers can create online stores hosted on its websites and mobile applications and upload and manage their automobile inventories, pricing, and promotional information. Potential automobile purchasers can interact with its dealer subscribers online or through phone numbers presented on the platform to inquire for more detailed information and schedule test drives. The company’s dealer subscribers can track all the interactions with their customers originating from its websites and mobile applications, analyze the number of sales leads, and assess the effectiveness of their marketing activities.
The company continues to develop its dealer subscription services and has begun to implement additional enriched and upgraded services.
Advertising Services for Individual Dealers
The company also offers advertising services for individual dealers to complement its leads generation services. The company’s dealer customers utilize its advertising services and leverage its large user base to support their sales and marketing activities. In addition to larger brand promotion advertising campaigns organized by the automakers or the group dealers, individual dealers utilize its advertising services to further enhance their visibility in the local community, address local market conditions, and promote local events. It also facilitates the process and connects its users from online to offline to generate sales leads and transactions for its dealer customers.
Used Automobile Listing and Other Platform-based Services
The company’s used automobile listing services allow dealers and individuals to market their used automobiles for sale on its websites and mobile applications. The company’s used automobile listing database has been expanding rapidly.
The che168.com website is a platform primarily focusing on used automobile services and is dedicated to providing features consisting of content, listings, and interactive functionality similar to its autohome.com.cn website. The company has been continuously developing and enhancing the functions of the used automobile website and application and has begun to provide advertising services, dealer subscription services, generation of sales leads, and other platform-based services in selected cities.
Online Marketplace and Other Services
The company’s online marketplace and other businesses include its data products, its new and used car transaction services, and its auto financing business, among others. The company’s data products leverage its intelligent big data analytics capabilities and massive pool of accumulated user data to provide end-to-end data-driven products and solutions for automakers and dealers across different stages of the value chain. It facilitates new and used vehicle transactions and provides other platform-based services for new and used car buyers and sellers. In September 2022, the company launched its first offline experience store, Autohome Space, helping it build brand awareness among users. It further expanded its franchised store network in 2023 and refined this new retail business model by integrating its used car business into these stores. In addition to providing a one-stop service for selecting and purchasing new energy vehicles from multiple brands, these stores also offer consumers the opportunity to trade in their cars and apply the proceeds towards the purchase of a new one, taking advantage of the vehicle disposal capacity of TTP. The company also provides an extensive suite of auto-related services to its users by integrating TTP’s offline vehicle examination, ownership transfer services, and other ancillary services with its online services. In May 2024, it initiated its Satellite Plan—a strategic initiative to establish satellite stores in lower-tier cities adjacent to the flagship Autohome Space stores, further accelerating its network expansion and facilitating deeper penetration into broader geographical markets. By early 2025, the total number of its franchised offline stores exceeds 150, generating strong brand aggregation and extensive channel coverage. Through the company’s auto financing business, it provides services to its cooperative financial institutions that involve facilitating the sale of their loans and insurance products to consumers and used automobile sellers.
Data Products
The company has been leveraging its AI, big data, cloud capabilities, and other technologies to continue developing and providing to automakers and dealers innovative data products since the end of 2017, and has successfully advanced its data and intelligent recommendation, and reinforced its entire ecosystem by providing highly differentiated value and data-driven end-to-end SaaS-based solutions to its customers. The data products and solutions it offers to automakers and dealers on the company’s platform primarily consist of Intelligent R&D, Intelligent New Car Launch, Intelligent Activities, analytical tools, and customized data reports prepared based on the company’s big data and multi-dimensional analyses on user reviews, purchasing interest and preferences, geographical competitive advantages of the relevant automakers and dealers, and their geographical distribution strategies, as well as Intelligent Showroom, Smart DCC, Smart Sales, Smart Aftersales, Smart Call-Out, Smart Assistant, Compass, and Smart Quality Control. The company’s Intelligent New Car Launch product generates large user attention with comprehensive launch plans based on big data, informing automakers of when and where to launch new products, what groups of potential buyers to target, what competition and selling points strategies to adopt, and what creative content to use in the launch. Post-launch, automakers continue to benefit from its Intelligent Activities services in maintaining a high level of market enthusiasm in the newly launched products and other mature products. The Intelligent Showroom, which is an intelligent and scenario-based marketing platform, integrates the technologies of AR, VR, big data, and voice recognition to achieve the functions of panoramic car shopping, smart push notifications, and smart shopping guide. Moreover, the company has also applied AI technology and large language models across a wide range of its products and services, further enhancing its service quality. Going forward, it will continue to enrich its data product portfolio to cover the data needs of the entire automobile ownership life cycle.
Used Vehicles Transactions
After the acquisition of TTP Car Inc. (TTP), the company continuously enhances its strategic synergy and integration with TTP. The company’s transaction platform for used vehicles functions as a transaction system, which connects automobile buyers and used automobile sellers and facilitates their vehicle transactions on its platform through providing a wide range of auto-related services, such as online bidding services, auto financing products, and valuation tools. The used vehicle transaction platform has improved the underserved used automobile market and addressed problems, such as lack of sourcing, traffic, and consumer confidence, and has fostered business-to-consumer purchasing experiences for its consumers. The company also provides comprehensive auto-related services to its users by integrating TTP’s offline vehicle examination, ownership transfer services, and other ancillary services with its online-based services.
New Vehicles Transactions
The company acts as the platform for users to review automotive-related information and inquiries, and facilitates transactions by delivering sales leads to the automakers. It primarily generates revenues by providing platform-based services and delivering sales leads to the automakers.
Auto Financing Services
The company has been developing its auto financing business to address the underserved auto financing market in mainland China by providing comprehensive online-based financial services. It gradually shifted its focus from leads generation to transaction facilitation and promotes successful transactions with targeted and diversified auto financial services. Based on users’ preferences and the company’s big data analysis, it recommends a broad range of loans and insurance products offered by its cooperative financial institutions to users that have auto financing needs and matches them to facilitate transactions as an insurance brokerage service provider with the relevant license from the Shanghai Bureau of the National Financial Regulatory Administration, or the NFRA. The company also introduced merchant loans offered by its cooperative financial institutions to automobile sellers. Through the company’s platform, it plans to enable its users and automobile sellers who are in need of auto financing to easily access various high-quality loans and insurance products and allow its cooperative financial partners to effectively increase the volume of their financing transactions.
Technology and Product Development
The company’s technologies and infrastructure are critical to its success. It follows a user-centric strategy for its system architecture and has developed a robust and scalable technology platform driven by AI, big data, and cloud technologies with sufficient flexibility to support its rapid growth.
A key component of the company’s user-centric strategy is its user intelligence engine, which it has developed and is continually enhancing. The company’s user intelligence engine allows it to rapidly gather user intelligence by analyzing large amounts of data from many sources throughout its content production system. It is able to monitor and analyze user behaviors and preferences through their browsing records on its platforms. The company can utilize such user intelligence data to personalize user interfaces, associate and understand the relationship of information from different sources, and facilitate interactions among users and various elements on its websites and mobile applications. It also helps the company recommend suitable products, services, and user connections to its users. Through the company’s user intelligence engine, it can engage its users more closely by providing them with relevant content throughout their automotive life cycles. The company is also able to provide precision and targeted marketing services to its automakers, dealers, and other automotive-related customers so that they can accurately deliver relevant advertisements to targeted users who are more receptive to such marketing information. Leveraging the company’s user intelligence engine and AI, big data, and cloud capabilities, it has been able to further enrich its content library with its AI-enabled content generation tool by generating customized content in a timely manner.
The company provides automobile consumers trend analysis services for its automaker and dealer customers that help them analyze data in specific demographic markets, such as consumer purchasing behavior characteristics and their brand strength in comparison to those of their competitors.
The company invested heavily in mobile technologies and was among the earliest in its industry in mainland China to introduce a mobile version of its websites and both Apple iOS- and Android-based applications to allow its users to easily access its content. It has built up a team of research and development personnel to focus exclusively on the development and enhancement of its mobile websites and applications and to explore new business models and opportunities through mobile technology. The company plans to continue to leverage its mobile technology to enhance the functions and user interfaces of its mobile applications for Apple iOS and Android platforms, focusing on convenience, real-time interaction, and location-based services.
Leveraging AR- and VR-related technologies, the company realized significant technology upgrades in 2017 and launched AR automobile showroom and AR auto show during the year, all of which have enabled it to provide its users with an innovative and superior automobile review experience and thus enhanced its user loyalty. In addition, these technology improvements have strengthened its ability to obtain additional user traffic and expanded its user base. The company has been continuing its efforts in expanding its VR product portfolio and utilizing AR- and VR-related technologies to improve the features of its services and commercialize innovative business initiatives. Since the second half of 2017, it has rolled out additional VR products, including VR branding showrooms, intelligent automobile showrooms, as well as direct visual access to automakers’ factory design and manufacturing processes, which improved its user experience by enabling its users to review and comprehend the entire automobile production process. In 2019, the company employed its AR and VR technologies in constructing a 360-degree panoramic multi-dimensional online visual scene that creates an offline auto show atmosphere for its 818 Super Auto Show, further carrying forward the company’s pursuit of an all-round sensory user experience and aiding the creation of an innovative integration of auto show and the internet that helps automakers and dealers better engage with consumers. The company plans to continue to make further upgrades and develop new technology to provide more diversified platforms for its users, and to expand the use of AR- and VR-related technologies throughout its ecosystem in order to offer automakers and dealers more innovative and effective branding and marketing tools, and greater exposure to highly targeted potential consumers throughout China. Also, it will continue to develop significant resources to expand the content breadth and depth offered on its platform in order to deliver the best user experience in the market.
As of December 31, 2024, the company had an experienced product development team of 1,232 engineers. The company’s past innovation has focused on helping users research, select, and purchase suitable vehicles through its websites. It plans to develop additional products and services for its mobile applications and media-related technology, and enhance its big data analytics capabilities and AR- and VR-related technologies.
Sales and Marketing and User Acquisition
The company’s nationwide in-house team of sales representatives sells its services to automakers and dealers. As of December 31, 2024, it had 1,882 sales and marketing representatives in 227 cities across mainland China and visiting customers in an additional 128 cities.
The company’s sales team is equipped with specialized automotive industry knowledge and expertise, understands its customers’ needs, and is trained to help them develop their advertising strategies. Salespeople work directly with its advertisers and advertising agencies that represent advertisers. The company’s sales team also maintains close relationships with its dealer customers by, among other things, providing continuing training, support, and ongoing customer service for its dealer subscription services and other value-added services. The company’s sales team for transaction business is in charge of customer services and maintains its relationships with automakers, its dealership partners, and business development personnel.
The company focuses its sales and marketing efforts through search engines, navigation websites, and mobile platforms to retain and strengthen its leading position in terms of user reach. For example, it cooperates with application stores and mobile browsers to promote its mobile applications and its websites. The company also conducts online marketing events on Autohome Mall and other traditional and social media channels, as well as offline promotional campaigns with its partners. For example, it conducts the annual ‘Singles’ Day’ campaign to generate quality sales leads and further facilitate the transactions. In August 2019, the company launched the 818 Super Auto Show, the first auto-themed gala in mainland China that created an innovative integration of online and offline promotion elements, which attracted a large number of automakers, dealers, and potential auto consumers to participate and further promoted Autohome’s brand awareness to a much wider user base. As of December 31, 2024, the company had held the show for six consecutive years. It has also engaged celebrities, primarily athletes, as its brand spokespersons to further promote its brand and stimulate user interest in its platform.
Intellectual Property
The company holds ‘AUTOHOME’ trademarks in mainland China through the VIEs, with each registered under different categories. In addition, as of December 31, 2024, it held 68 pending trademark applications and 673 registered trademarks. As of the same date, the company had 96 registered domain names, including its main website domain names, autohome.com.cn, che168.com, and ttpai.cn, 378 pending patent applications, and 445 registered patents. The company had 1,415 computer software copyrights as of December 31, 2024.
Competition
With respect to the company’s auto media and leads generation businesses, it faces competition from mainland China’s automotive vertical websites and mobile applications, such as BitAuto, Dongchedi, Xcar, and PCauto, from the automotive channels of major internet portals, such as Sina and Sohu, and from companies engaged in mobile social media, news, video, and live-streaming applications. The company’s auto finance business faces competition from other auto finance companies, such as Yixin and Souche. In addition, it faces competition from companies engaged in social media business, such as ByteDance and Tencent, companies engaged in data product offering, such as BitAuto and Dongchedi, and companies engaged in AI and big data technologies.
Seasonality
The company’s business experiences seasonal variations in association with the demand for automobiles in mainland China. For example, the first quarter (year ended December 31, 2024) of each year generally contributes the lowest portion of the company’s annual net revenues primarily due to a slowdown in business activities around and during the Chinese New Year holiday, which occurs during the period.
Regulation
To comply with these PRC (the People’s Republic of China, including Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) laws and regulations, Shengtuo Hongyuan and Shanghai Jinyou hold ICP licenses. Autohome Information holds a value-added telecommunications services license for conducting online data processing and transaction processing services (for e-commerce only) and internet information services (for internet information services only), and a value-added telecommunications services license for information services (excluding internet information services) (such certificate held by Autohome Information is in the process of renewal).
As a Cayman Islands company and foreign legal person under the laws of mainland China, the company is subject to the aforesaid provisions. To comply with these regulations of mainland China, it operates its websites through the VIEs. Autohome Information is currently 50% owned by Quan Long and 50% owned by Youdong Wang. Shengtuo Hongyuan is 50% owned by Tao Wu and 50% owned by Youdong Wang. All of them are PRC citizens. Shanghai Jinwu is wholly owned by Weiwei Wang, and Shanghai Jinyou is currently 95% owned by Weiwei Wang and 5% owned by Lan Zhang. Both Weiwei Wang and Lan Zhang are PRC citizens. Each of Autohome Information, Shengtuo Hongyuan, and Shanghai Jinyou holds an ICP license.
To enhance data security, the company has closely evaluated the effectiveness of its data security systems, and its core system has obtained an MLPS Level III certification.
The company has completed the aforesaid record-filing formalities for Autohome and other relevant apps with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of PRC (MIIT).
It has provided maps on its websites and mobile applications for the convenience of its users to locate certain service providers. Both Autohome Information and Shengtuo Hongyuan hold the Surveying and Mapping Qualification Certificates for internet mapping.
The company established Shanghai Jinyou in December 2021, which has been filed as an entity conducting used automobiles business in the Ministry of Commerce of PRC’s (MOFCOM’s) national car circulation information management and application service systems.
History
The company was founded in 2008. It was incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands in 2008. The company was formerly known as Sequel Limited and changed its name to Autohome Inc. in 2011.
