Haifeng had been weighing his next big move: whether to license his display patents to BOE in exchange for equity, or to build his screen factory.
After running the math and looking at the politics, he chose control. Even with a fat equity stake, licensing to BOE meant no say in operations. No leverage in execution. So he scrapped the partnership idea entirely.
Instead, he decided to fund a display manufacturing facility from scratch, using his patents and team. It wasn't just about feeding Harmony phones.
With volume production, he could supply panels to other domestic brands, and the profit per screen would easily beat the profit per Hongmeng S2 sold. He didn't need to fight every battle directly. Owning the upstream tech was enough.
By the end of December, Haifeng was back at the Audi Motors R&D lab, watching his engineers finish tuning the Qin Pro prototype.
There were two versions of the car:
1.5T Performance Variant
170 hp / 245 Nm torque
CVT gearbox
0–100 km/h in 6.4 seconds
Fuel consumption: 5.9L / 100 km
1.4T Skyactiv Economy Variant
130 hp / 199 Nm torque
CVT gearbox
0–100 km/h in 8.6 seconds
Fuel consumption: 4.5L / 100 km
Performance or fuel efficiency—buyers could choose their path.
It took Audi Motors just thirty days to bring the Qin Pro from design to a working prototype that was thoroughly tested. That stunned Lichi's entire engineering team. They couldn't finish their prep work in 30 days, let alone a complete model. And somehow, Audi still had a chance with the ¥500 million development budget.
The reason?
Simple.
Audi Motors provided the entire powertrain, and Haifeng delivered the body and chassis data himself. It was plug-and-play, at an elite scale.
Audi's engineers flew to Lichi HQ in Zhejiang Province the next morning to begin production line integration. At the same time, Lichi launched full-scale promotional blitzes across every central platform. They weren't holding back. This was war. They were gunning straight for Honda Civics' market share. Their campaign began with full headline takeovers via Dongche.com.
"The new A-Class Qin Pro, co-developed by Lichi and Audi Motors, launches soon!"
The tagline didn't go overboard.
It simply stated that the car used Audi's full powertrain suite—and that Haifeng, the man behind the legendary Audi A4, personally led the design. That name alone carried massive weight in China. Tying Haifeng to a new product guaranteed clicks, traffic, and trust. The first wave of images followed.
One promo showed the car's silhouette in total darkness, headlights on, barely revealing its complete body lines. Another revealed the taillights, equally mysterious. Clean. Sleek. Minimal but striking.
Netizens flooded the comments:
"Holy hell, I only saw the outline and it already looks sick."
"No wonder the A4 looked so good—Feng-ge designed that too?"
"If Audi's giving Lichi the engine, I don't even care what the rest is. I'm buying."
"I've put 35K km on my Audi A4. Other than topping off the washer fluid, not a single issue."
"Same here. I crisscross the country for work. 50K km and still running like day one."
"If this Lichi car's anywhere under ¥100,000, I'm grabbing one immediately."
Of course, not everyone was sold.
One commenter pushed back:
"Just buy the Honda Civic, man. My buddy paid ¥6K over retail to get one, and it does 0–100 in 6.9 seconds. That thing's insane."
Another replied:
"Civic bros on the internet are acting like they're driving supercars. I smoked one yesterday in my A4."
The Civic had become a clout chariot.
It delivered the acceleration at under ¥100K that gave young buyers bragging rights. And with its coupe-like shape, it looked the part. Social media was flooded with Civic videos—owners flexing speed, design, and a low-slung street racer vibe.
But Lichi wasn't aiming to beat Civic with louder marketing. They were aiming to win it with substance. The Qin Pro was backed by real engineering, elite design, and a track record of zero-compromise parts. And this time, even the skeptics were watching.