Autohome

Autohome is China's leading automotive internet portal. Founded in 2005 by Li Auto founder Li Xiang, the platform started with professional vehicle reviews and community forums before evolving into a comprehensive automotive consumer service platform covering automotive news, new and used car transactions, as well as aftermarket services. In August 2025, Haier Group’s CarTech Holdings acquired an approximate 43% controlling stake in Autohome for around USD 1.8 billion, marking the transition from the Ping An era to the Haier era.

History & Development

Established in 2005, Autohome grew rapidly on the back of its professional vehicle reviews and active online community, becoming one of China's "Big Three" automotive portals. In 2015, founder Li Xiang stepped down as president to establish Chehejia (now Li Auto). In April 2016, Ping An of China acquired a 47.4% stake in Autohome for USD 1.6 billion, becoming its single largest shareholder.

The Ping An Era (2016–2025): Autohome established three core business pillars: media services, sales leads generation (supplying prospective buyer leads to dealerships), and online marketing. Between 2018 and 2020, it recorded steady revenue and profit growth. However, it subsequently hit a growth ceiling with its "traffic monetisation" model, leading to a continuous decline in net profit from 2021 onwards.

The Haier Era (2025–present): On 27 August 2025, Haier Group subsidiary CarTech Holdings completed the acquisition of an approximate 43.0% stake in Autohome, officially taking over as the controlling shareholder. Ping An Property & Casualty indirectly retains an approximate 5.1% stake via Yunchen Capital and holds one board seat. Liu Chi, Director of the Haier Group Board and head of CarTech, was appointed Chairman of the Board and CEO of Autohome.

Business Operations

Content ecosystem remains Autohome’s core competitive moat. The platform has built a three-tier content ecosystem comprising Occupationally-Generated Content (OGC), Professionally-Generated Content (PGC), and forum User-Generated Content (UGC). Its proprietary "AH-100 Vehicle Rating System" and a comprehensive testing database covering over 2,500 models anchor its industry authority. As of March 2026, Autohome's mobile daily active users (DAU) reached 80.73 million, up 4.9% year-on-year, solidifying its traffic leadership in the industry.

New retail and vehicle transactions represent key pillars of its strategic transformation. In April 2026, the "Online Car Purchase" service was piloted in Shenzhen and Xi'an, allowing buyers to complete the entire buying process online—from model and spec selection to placing firm booking deposits—requiring only contract signing and physical vehicle collection at the showroom. The platform concurrently introduced four key purchase assurances: "officially verified inventory, fully escrowed transactions, transparent pricing, and hassle-free refundable booking fees".

In used cars and overseas expansion, the company rolled out end-to-end car-selling services and a cross-border used vehicle export platform, driving growth through both domestic service optimisation and global market expansion. In March 2026, its international content platform "YesAuto" went live in Thailand, featuring 100 Chinese new energy vehicles (NEVs) and establishing an authoritative database for Chinese NEVs in the Thai market.

On the AI technology front, the company deploys proprietary tech suites such as the Cangjie Large Language Model to enable end-to-end intelligent solutions from content generation to commercial monetisation. In Q1 2026, Autohome posted a total revenue of RM690,000,000.

Market Presence

As of 2025, Autohome amassed over 500 million total users across all platforms, partnering with over 100 car manufacturers and serving 26,000 dealerships. Currently transitioning from a specialised automotive media portal into a one-stop automotive ecosystem platform, the company leverages both Haier's ecosystem and Ping An's resources to build an integrated "content + transaction + service" O2O automotive ecosystem.