Did Deepal Auto’s livestream look a bit too much like Xiaomi’s? CEO Deng Chenghao responds: “Learning from Lei Jun is nothing to be ashamed of.”

Lei Jun’s livestream style has clearly become a template in China’s auto industry—and it’s spreading fast.

During Deepal’s New Year livestream last night, a guest openly voiced what many viewers were already thinking: the tone, the pacing, even the outfit colors felt very “Lei Jun.” The surprise was that Deepal’s chairman Deng Chenghao didn’t dodge it—he admitted it on the spot: yes, they’re learning from him.

Deng’s reasoning was straightforward. He said Lei Jun’s livestreams are highly engaging, especially the two sessions after New Year’s, and asked his team to adopt a more relaxed, “talking to friends” approach—friendly, clear, and less formal.

In a fiercely competitive market, publicly acknowledging that you’re learning from a competitor is rare. But it also makes sense. Executives going live is already routine in the auto world; everyone rehearses, everyone tries to create buzz. The real difference is whether the livestream can do more than generate heat—whether it can actually explain the product in a way people trust.

Lei Jun’s recent edge is that he’s moved away from pure specs and toward scenarios. The teardown livestream is a perfect example: instead of listing numbers, he visually answered doubts—down to demonstrating redundancy design in a power-off scenario. For everyday viewers, that kind of “show, don’t tell” communication builds confidence much faster than a spec sheet.

Deepal’s weakness has never been a lack of tech, but a lack of storytelling. Many brand livestreams still sound like engineering lectures: great for enthusiasts, confusing for most consumers. Switching to simpler explanations—like clarifying how L3 autonomy responsibility boundaries work—helps people understand and feel safer.

That said, livestreaming is not a magic growth hack. It amplifies trust, but only if the product and delivery can support that “realness.” If the reality doesn’t match the talk, trust collapses even faster. Lei Jun dares to tear down a car because he’s betting his product can survive public scrutiny.

For Deepal, copying the style is only the first step. The real challenge is whether the brand can consistently communicate with the same honesty—and back it up with real product performance over time.

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