Dongchedi (English: DCar) is an integrated automotive information, transaction, and service platform under Douyin Group. It provides motorists with professional automotive content, vehicle selection, and purchasing services, whilst offering digital solutions to car manufacturers and dealerships. Officially launched in August 2017, Dongchedi was incubated from Jinri Toutiao’s automotive vertical. Leveraging ByteDance's proprietary algorithmic recommendations and massive traffic advantages, the platform expanded rapidly to establish itself as a market leader in the domestic automotive internet space.
Dongchedi's origins trace back to 2015 when ByteDance filed the "Dongchedi" trademark, operating then as a dedicated automotive channel within Jinri Toutiao. In August 2017, Dongchedi was rolled out as a standalone app. Initially positioned as an automotive content distribution channel within the ByteDance ecosystem, it paired user-generated content (UGC) with ByteDance’s algorithmic feeds, disrupting the conventional automotive portal model where users actively searched for content.
Within two months of its launch, Dongchedi broke into the industry's top five for active users; by September 2018, its daily active users (DAU) crossed the 4 million mark. In October 2019, Dongchedi introduced automotive live-streaming capabilities. As the pandemic disrupted physical showrooms, the platform took merely 10 months to emerge as the country's largest automotive live-streaming platform. By October 2021, Dongchedi's mobile DAU officially surpassed Autohome and Bitauto, clinching the top spot in industry daily active users.
In December 2023, Dongchedi completed its formal spin-off from ByteDance to operate as an independent corporate entity. In June 2024, Dongchedi secured approximately USD 600 million in Series A funding led by Sequoia China, with backing from institutional investors including KKR and General Atlantic, pegging its post-money valuation at roughly USD 3 billion. By 2026, market reports indicated that Dongchedi was actively gearing up for an IPO in Hong Kong to raise between USD 1 billion and USD 1.5 billion, positioning it to become the first ByteDance business unit to go public independently.
Content Ecosystem forms the backbone of Dongchedi. The platform establishes its competitive moat across three content tiers: original editorial content, creator contributions, and community forum discussions. It drives industry authority through proprietary features such as the "DCar Rating" scoring system, extreme winter and summer vehicle tests, and technical teardown comparisons. By the end of 2025, Dongchedi’s mobile DAU surpassed 10 million, engaging an ecosystem of around 7.5 million automotive content creators and reaching over 510 million car enthusiasts and prospective buyers.
Cost-Per-Sale (CPS) Performance Model represents Dongchedi's primary commercial innovation. In 2022, Dongchedi pioneered the CPS model in Chongqing, moving away from the conventional Cost-Per-Time (CPT) framework that billed dealerships based on impressions or sales leads. Under CPS, platform service fees are levied only when an actual vehicle sale is completed. By 2025, the CPS model had been adopted by over 30,000 dealerships across more than 110 marques, with surveys indicating a 20% uplift in per-capita sales productivity for dealer networks.
Transaction Services drive Dongchedi's strategic expansion. For new car sales, Dongchedi rolled out "Dongchegou" to seamlessly integrate end-to-end vehicle purchasing into Douyin’s live-streaming ecosystem. In the used car segment, operations span over 350 cities with an active inventory exceeding 300,000 units, backed by more than 150 retail outlets and vehicle delivery centres nationwide. The platform enforces up to 328-point comprehensive vehicle inspection standards, alongside customer peace-of-mind initiatives including fixed transparent pricing and a 7-day no-questions-asked return policy.
Dongchedi accelerated its development of large AI language models in 2023, introducing an AI vehicle recommendation assistant in 2024. In December of the same year, Dongchedi’s proprietary large model algorithm secured official regulatory filing approval, culminating in the official launch of the AI Car Selection product in July 2025. Catering to multi-criteria vehicle matching, head-to-head model comparisons, and technical specification queries, the tool provides car buyers with smart, data-driven buying advice, widely dubbed "the pocket vehicle expert".
Dongchedi operates under Beijing Dongchedi Technology Co., Ltd. (renamed Beijing Jichen Technology Co., Ltd. in 2026). The controlling shareholder is He Jian, holding a 60% stake and serving as President of Dongchedi. Backed by a strong technical background, He previously headed R&D at Baidu's Healthcare Business Unit and spearheaded Dongchedi's pivot to the CPS model and AI roadmap. The core executive bench also includes Vice President Zhang Di (Content Ecosystem), among others.
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