There's one thing every young person seems to love: sports cars. And the Honda Civic? It nailed that "cool" look. Everything started with a viral video.
One Civic owner posted himself racing—and supposedly beating—a sports car on a city road. It exploded across Weibo. Soon after, nationwide Civic owners began filming their "supercar takedown" videos. Were they real? Of course not.
They were renting those sports cars just for fake races. But they didn't care. The memes were gold. Then came the infamous modder. One Civic enthusiast souped up his car, flashed the ECO light, and bragged in the owner forums:
"My Civic can smoke anything under 5 million yuan."
He uploaded clips of himself beating everything from the VW Bora to the Suzuki Alto, even claiming to outrun BMW's AMG-GT coupe.
The internet lapped it up. In Civic groups, reality didn't matter anymore. The Civic wasn't a car—it was a movement. The buzz reached Honda's China HQ, where Mr. Koyanagi ran the regional branch.
When he saw the trend, he didn't laugh. He capitalized.
"Push the narrative," he told Honda's marketing team.
"Make it official—Civic beats anything. Let the hype sell cars."
The results? Spectacular.
Honda Civics flew off the lots. Some buyers paid tens of thousands over sticker price to get one early and flex online. Mr. Koyanagi smiled to himself.
"Sure, we lowered prices. Gave up a bit of margin…"
"But we quietly cut specs for China. Swapped iron crash beams for foam. Stripped out features. Shaved off weight and cost."
"On paper, it's the same car. But it saves us money—and the Chinese buyers never check."
"They're easy to fool."
Then, smugly, he added:
"Toyota's Camry only sold a few thousand this month."
"But Civic? Nearly 100,000 units."
"Let's see that bitch Junko from Toyota brag now."
He even muttered Haifeng's name.
"I can't touch Audi's luxury segment... but the local brands? I'll crush them one by one."
"This is just phase one. Once our new factory finishes construction, we'll wipe them out completely."
His plan worked—for a while.
Honda's price war strategy, copied straight from Audi's early tactics, did boost Civic sales dramatically. And yes, the cars shipped to China had the lowest configurations possible—thin materials, minimal safety, no frills.
But buyers still flocked to them. After all, in many minds, Japanese cars were "light but efficient."
So even if Honda stripped the specs bare, few noticed… or cared. Meanwhile, in Zhejiang, another storm was brewing. After more than ten days of relentless marketing, Lichi Auto was finally ready. Their long-awaited new model—the Qin Pro, co-developed with Audi Motors—was set to launch in Modu.
They kept the specs quiet. No leaks. No early tests. Only a few promo shots and subtle teaser drops. But that was enough. Anticipation online was through the roof.
Netizens debated:
"That new Lichi design? Way hotter than the Civic."
"I've never seen a car use ancient Chinese characters for the badge. It's sleek as hell."
"I used to hate Lichi's ugly logo. Now? That seal-script 'Qin' is perfect."
"Honestly, I'm buying it just for the badge."
"Haifeng is a legend. Every design he touches is god-tier."
"Oh, and the powertrain? Rumor says it's a high-performance small-displacement engine made by Audi. Qiqiong series or something."
"If that's true, I'm sold. Not even gonna look at the Civic again."
"Finally, a domestic car with real engineering behind it."
The Civic meme wave had been fun. But now? The Qin Pro was about to turn the joke around. And Haifeng's team wasn't here to play.