Guazi Ershou Che fined ¥12.5M: 'volume already far ahead' in its first year

Guazi Ershou Che (瓜子二手车), one of China's biggest used-car platforms, staked its 2018 advertising on a superlative claim: '创办一年，成交量就已遥遥领先' (in its first year, our transaction volume is already far ahead). The slogan was pushed heavily in national advertising.

On 30 November 2018, the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce's Haidian branch fined Guazi's operating company 金瓜子科技 ¥12.5 million for violating the Advertising Law with the misleading superlative — a record fine at the time for the category. The regulator found the 'far ahead' claim had no basis the consumer could verify.

The dispute did not end with the fine. In March 2022, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court issued a final ruling in the civil case: Guazi's claim constituted false advertising and disparagement against rival Renren Che (人人车), ordering Guazi to pay ¥3 million in compensation.

The case became a reference point for how aggressively China's advertising regulators and courts treat unverifiable superlative claims between direct competitors.