A few things on my radar #17
Nezha 2, XPeng, Walmart and Chinese brands‘ response to tariffs
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P.S. I'm traveling right now — so this issue was written entirely on iPhone. Source links will be added later, as mobile editing is challenging. Sorry about that.
Nezha 2 🎬
"Ne Zha 2" becomes world’s fifth highest - grossing film ever, box office continues to climb
Ne Zha 2 has earned RMB 14.86B ($2.054B) in China, plus $31M internationally, bringing its global total to $2.085B - surpassing Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($2.071B) to become the fifth highest-grossing film ever, reported by Deadline on March 16th.
Now — only "Titanic," "Avatar: The Way of Water," "Avengers: Endgame," and "Avatar" rank higher, and it remains to be seen how far "Ne Zha 2" will ascend in the global all-time rankings.
The political impact of this film on Chinese audiences may have been underestimated.
Beyond its mythological elements, the film portrays a hero challenging established power structures—mirroring China's position in global politics. The emphasis on Nezha's resistance and his powerful declaration "I am mastering my own destiny" echoes narratives about standing firm against external pressures. When audiences connect emotionally with Nezha's journey, they encounter a deeper political metaphor: "China's fate should be determined by China, not anyone else."
While there is no evidence of CCP intervention in the content creation, I observe that most Chinese audiences clearly understand and strongly identify with the underlying message and China's position online.
From a business perspective, I see Nezha as a cultural product similar to Star Wars in its early days—both featuring thrilling storylines, compelling heroes, polished production, and powerful philosophical pillars — Nezha's unwavering defiance against an unjust fate parallels the Jedi's “force” to find light in darkness.
However, surpassing Star Wars in box office rankings doesn't mean Nezha has truly matched Star Wars' success.
Let’s be real — Compared to Star Wars, Nezha lacks an expansive story universe and merchandising ecosystem. The franchises are also poor in cultivating a dedicated fanbase, and its story has yet to strike a chord with audiences across different cultures.
Meaning — for Nezha to achieve Star Wars' strong cultural brand status remains a distant prospect. A more pragmatic goal for the Nezha team should be to focus on delivering exceptional upcoming films. If future installments cannot consistently exceed audience expectations, Nezha may become nothing more than a fleeting success.
XPeng
XPeng aims to achieve profitability in 2025 and plans to start selling robots and flying cars by 2026
XPeng's February sales surged 570% year-over-year to 30,453 vehicles, driven by strong demand for the P7+ and MONA MO3 models. In comparison: NIO rose 62%, Li Auto increased 30%, BYD grew 161%, while Tesla declined 49%.
The company is expected to achieve profitability by late 2025, driven by new model demand and overseas expansion. If successful, XPeng would become China's first pure EV maker to turn profitable, said Reuters.
Xpeng even plans to start mass production of its flying car model and industrial robots by 2026.
Like Tesla and Baidu, Xpeng has developed its own AI models for advanced autonomous driving. By the second half of this year, Xpeng plans to achieve L3 full-scenario autonomous driving, promising an unparalleled driving experience.
He Xiaopeng, the leader of XPeng, should be grateful to Wang Fengying (王凤英)—this veteran auto industry executive joined XPeng in early 2023 when the company was facing a sales crisis. Drawing on her extensive experience, she orchestrated a sweeping overhaul of XPeng's core products, sales system, and supply chain, rescuing the company from its slump and steering it back onto the path to profitability.
Having resolved its survival challenges, Xiaopeng's visionary ambitions have taken flight - from last year until now, XPeng has successively launched an AI-powered in-car OS (2024), iron robots (2024), and even revolutionary flying cars (2025) that have caught everyone's attention. With the government's growing emphasis on AI, robotics, and the low-altitude economy this year, all of XPeng's innovative directions show tremendous potential.
Think large — in contrast to XPeng and the broader EV industry in China showing strong performance, Tesla's sales continue to decline in major regions like China and Europe. This appears to validate analysts' concerns about Elon Musk's ability to juggle multiple roles while maintaining Tesla's competitive edge. Given this situation, Chinese EV makers are well-positioned to gain Tesla's market share, both domestically and internationally.
Chinese brands’ response to tariffs 💰
The following information is compiled from public brand announcements and media coverage
ANTA 👟 (just officially entered the US market last year)
ANTA has just announced the acquisition of German outdoor apparel brand Jack Wolfskin, which has extensive sales channels in both China and Europe, demonstrating ANTA's intention to seek more markets growth outside the US — hedging against tariff risks.
Luxshare Precision 📱（Apple supplier)
Buying back shares after continuous stock price decline to stabilize market confidence. Rumors about plans to set up factories in the US were officially declared false.
Luckin ☕️ (planning to open stores in the US this year)
At present, there are no indications that the tariff war will impact Luckin's plans to open stores in the US.
Anyway - their WeChat official account name was recently changed from "Luckin Coffee 瑞幸咖啡" to simply "瑞幸咖啡" - the motivation remains unclear, but it may reflect concerns about potential nationalist backlash.nv
Anker 🔋(main market in US)
Already increased prices across over 100 products on Amazon, and there is a possibility for further increases.
Greater Star 🔧(main market in US)
OEM: Maintaining prices but trying to redesign products to preserve profit margins. OBM: Directly increasing prices.
Temu 📦
Their accumulated cash reserves are now proving crucial—they're offering "100 billion RMB in subsidies" to help small and medium merchants reduce cost, navigate non-us market and build brand to maintain the profit.
TikTok 👔👛
The US e-commerce team has undergone layoffs, citing poor e-commerce performance in 2024. However, it cannot be ruled out that tariffs and uncertainty about TikTok's future in the US have catalyzed this strategic retreat in the US region.
Recently, many Chinese factory owners have flooded TikTok to expose the secrets of luxury goods supply chains - revealing that while brand markups are excessive, the actual production costs are very low - and are now directly selling their low-cost products to American consumers — Is this a TikTok-orchestrated campaign to support Chinese manufacturing?
Pinduoduo, Freshippo, JD, Yonghui and other domestic marketplaces 📦
Using their domestic sales channels and resources to help export factories pivot to sell their products across domestic markets (JD is offering 200 billion RMB in subsidies, while other platforms are creating expedited channels for exporters to list their products)
Walmart faces pressure in China as Trump's tariffs take effect
To cope with a 20% tariff on Chinese imports on top of previous tariffs has put U.S. retailers, in recent weeks, Walmart and other U.S. retailers have told some suppliers they want discounts on China-made products. Some suppliers have also been asked to move production outside of China.
Chinese officials confronted Walmart last Tuesday over reports it was pushing Chinese suppliers to offset U.S. tariff costs through price cuts. The state media further noted that Walmart sources 60% of its products from China and warned that mistreating Chinese suppliers risks consumer backlash.
According the WSJ, during Tuesday's meeting, Walmart pledged to work collaboratively with Chinese suppliers while protecting mutual interests. The company emphasized China's importance as a key market and crucial supply chain partner.
Thanks to Trump's tariffs, global trade patterns are being further reshaped.
I'm not sure to what extent this will affect Walmart's business in China - it largely depends on how Walmart ultimately handles this dilemma.
Here are other notable brand updates currently on my radar:
Luckin >> Luckin does not plan to raise prices, despite the surging cost of beans // Yicai
Despite Luckin Coffee's significant supply chain advantages from its massive purchasing power, the company faces unavoidable cost pressures as green bean prices have nearly doubled this year. Their announcement of "no plans to lower prices" seems to be a defensive warning signal to Cotti - the instigator of the ¥9.9 price war - indicating that if the price war continues, they still have the capacity to fight till the end.
Mixue >> Mixue has won widespread forgiveness and support domestically, despite being criticized on hygiene violations issues by the state media // ThePaper
In my memory, this is the first time in history that a brand called out during the 315 broadcast was forgiven by consumers without taking any remedial measures - Mixue's supporters have essentially become the brand's free "PR army" - so crazy.
H&M >> H&M takes back its flagship Shanghai store // WWD
For H&M, rebuilding trust with local consumers is the top priority now.
Sabrina Ionescu >> Ionescu has met her fans in Manila, Guangzhou and Hong Kong // Weibo
With increasing WNBA viewership, women's basketball players have established themselves as true stars and are actively expanding their influence in Asian markets.