Pay double the deposit and NIO will sue internet celebrities! Refusing to sell cars to Gu Yubo | Account | Selling Cars

On August 5th, NIO's Ministry of Justice announced that in the case of Gu Yubo using his online account "Xiao Niu Shuo Che" to infringe on NIO's reputation rights, the Intermediate People's Court of Hefei City has recently dismissed Gu Yubo's objection to jurisdiction and the case is proceeding normally.

NIO stated that in view of Gu Yubo's verbal abuse, slander, and attacks against NIO and its users, they have notified the termination of the car purchase agreement, refused to sell NIO branded vehicles to them, and provided compensation. In response, Gu Yubo stated that "no one negotiated compensation with me from beginning to end" and sued NIO for discrimination against consumers in court.

The origin of the incident

At 10:35 on August 5, the official WeChat official account of the Ministry of Justice of Weilai issued a statement saying that recently, Hefei Intermediate People's Court had rejected Gu Yubo's appeal for jurisdiction objection in the case of Gu Yubo's infringement of Weilai's reputation by using his online account "Mavericks talk about cars".

It is reported that the account of "Maverick Says Car" is the Tiktok We Media account, which mainly deals with car comments, with 2.462 million fans.

NIO stated that in view of Gu Yubo's verbal abuse, slander, and attacks against NIO and its users, the company has notified the termination of the car purchase agreement, refused to sell NIO branded vehicles to them, and refunded all funds and paid double the vehicle deposit involved in the agreement on the day of termination.

In response to Weilai's statement, Gu Yubo released a video response at 14:35 on August 5 on the "Mavericks Talk about Cars" Tiktok account: "No one negotiated compensation with me from beginning to end." On August 4, Gu Yubo released a video showing the payment voucher that he ordered Weilai ES6 in July, signed a purchase agreement and paid all the car fees. When picking up the car on July 15th, I was informed by NIO that I would not deliver the purchased vehicle.

Gu Yubo claimed that he filed a civil lawsuit with the Tongshan District People's Court in Xuzhou City, believing that NIO's actions constituted discrimination against consumers, and applied for preservation and freezing of NIO's company assets.

Lawyer He Qiqi from Guangdong Zeju Law Firm told a reporter from China Securities News, "The content of the car purchase agreement between NIO and Gu Yubo is a true expression of the intentions of both parties, legal and valid. Gu Yubo has fulfilled his obligation to pay the car purchase price according to the agreement. On this basis, NIO's refusal to fulfill the obligation to deliver the vehicle based on Gu Yubo's previous remarks is a breach of contract in this buying and selling transaction, and NIO should bear corresponding breach of contract responsibilities. According to Article 577 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China," If one party fails to perform the contract obligations or fails to fulfill the contract obligations in accordance with the agreement, it should bear breach of contract responsibilities such as continuing to perform, taking remedial measures, or compensating for losses. "In the event of vehicle loss, damage or other inability to fulfill the contract, if the conditions for continued performance are still met, Gu Yubo can still claim that NIO will continue to fulfill its delivery obligations in accordance with the law, and demand that NIO bear the breach of contract liability and loss compensation liability for delayed delivery as agreed

The dispute between NIO and Gu Yubo, the owner of "Xiaoniu Shuochi", began in April this year.

Wei Lai announced that, since April 6, 2023, Gu Yubo has used his registered Tiktok account "Xiaoniu Shuochi" to publish more than ten short videos in a row, using insulting, vulgar, vulgar and ugly words, fabricating facts, distorting the interpretation of information about Wei Lai and Wei Lai users, slandering, abusing and attacking the new energy vehicle industry, Wei Lai and Wei Lai users, and even repeatedly slandering the brand and products of Wei Lai with insulting descriptions of women, and making malicious personal attacks on Wei Lai users with insulting words, seriously infringing the legitimate rights and interests of Wei Lai and Wei Lai users.

NIO believes that the production, dissemination, and forwarding of related videos are suspected of serious violations of relevant criminal and civil laws and regulations. Regarding the civil liability for Gu Yubo's infringement, NIO has officially filed a lawsuit against him, requesting him to delete relevant videos, publicly apologize and compensate 5 million RMB. The case was officially filed by the court on May 15th.

NIO establishes a legal department to protect rights

In May of this year, the official Weibo account of NIO's Ministry of Justice was officially opened, mainly aimed at defending rights against malicious attacks and other comments against NIO on the internet. Since its establishment, the account has disclosed the progress of protecting the rights of multiple online infringing accounts.

NIO stated that the NIO User Public Welfare Foundation has officially signed a contract with the Anhui Charity Federation to establish a public welfare fund, jointly focusing on social welfare such as education and elderly care. The first batch of donations has been completed, and the source of the funds is the compensation received by NIO's legal department since 2022 to protect the rights and interests of NIO and its users.

Coincidentally, Tesla, BYD, Ideal Auto, Xiaopeng Auto and other auto companies have set up legal departments to safeguard the rights of various public opinions on the Internet.

In March of this year, the Joint Conference of Chief Brand Officers of Chinese Automobile Enterprises under the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers and its member units unanimously decided to launch a joint initiative to resist the online water army in the automotive industry.

The member units participating in this joint initiative include China FAW, Dongfeng Group, Changan Automobile, SAIC Group, BAIC Group, GAC Group, Chery Automobile, Jiangqi Group, Great Wall Motors, Geely Automobile, BYD, NIO, Xiaopeng Automobile, and Ideal Automobile, totaling 14 automobile companies.

In the joint initiative, it is clear that we should resist the online water army from four aspects, including not participating in, not hiring the online water army to make any negative comments, pour water, or maliciously smear; Jointly resist enterprises that hire online water armies, and jointly resist service agents who maliciously irrigate and smear; Jointly resist all unfair competition behaviors that fabricate false information, attack and provoke peer relationships; Call on car users to express their opinions rationally in the online space, not to be misled by harmful information, and not to be coerced by the navy.