Strong signal has arrived! The revaluation of Car Home (02518) has opened a golden opportunity period.

On April 22, 2026, a brand rejuvenation conference with the theme "Trust, towards a new beginning" put Autohome, founded over twenty years ago (02518), in the spotlight. The new logo "inner circle outer square", a comprehensive overhaul of the app homepage, the first appearance of AIDIGIHUMAN... At first glance, this seems like a routine visual upgrade. But those who understand this conference will realize - Autohome is undergoing a self-reconstruction from the bones to the muscles, accelerating the transformation from a singular car information platform to a comprehensive service platform covering content, transactions, and post-sales services. In other words, after twenty years, Autohome is no longer satisfied with being just a "reference book" before buying a car, but wants to become the "butler" for the entire lifecycle of car usage. Of course, behind this strategic transformation is not simply brand rejuvenation, but the upgrading of business models and long-term growth potential that deserve further exploration. Transformation perspective: Exchanging short-term profits for long-term user value Looking at Autohome's brand rejuvenation, it is evident that this is a strategic restructuring centered around "putting the user at the center". The key to the restructuring lies in the delicate balance between upgrading user experience and short-term benefits - and this is an important dimension in interpreting its value in the market. On one hand, product restructuring requires continuous reinvestment. The old version of the app, with information overload, fragmented style, and cumbersome operation, could no longer adapt to digital car purchasing demands. With this rejuvenation, Autohome chose a complete overhaul: from the human-centered design of the logo "inner circle outer square", to breaking down business stages on the homepage, reinforcing transactional mindset; from streamlining interactive levels, reducing operational steps, to the upcoming intelligent recommendations and information navigation for individual users. Every interface optimization, every feature iteration, every round of user testing, requires continuous investment of manpower, technology, and time. On the other hand, cultivating the mindset of new retail is a slow process. User perception of Autohome, accumulated over twenty years, has been firmly anchored in "car information media". To transition to a one-stop trading service, merely launching an online store is not enough - it requires continuous mindset building. Therefore, Autohome has actively broken through: with huge subsidies during Double 11 shopping festival, nationwide layout of new retail stores, home delivery service, and pilot online car purchasing features, all aimed at short-term profits to bring users closer to the transaction mindset. These measures may not seek immediate returns, but they are essential accumulations in the transitional period. More importantly, the growth potential of AI requires patience. At the conference, Autohome showcased the progress of its self-developed Cangjie big model and AI intelligent assistant. These technologies are currently in the value accumulation stage, with a clear path to commercialization: assisting with car purchasing decisions, intelligent matching of car sources, improving content production efficiency, promising long-term prospects. This also confirms a core logic: the growth of technology is a patient marathon, with each step building strength for the future. All the strategic actions mentioned above require real investment - according to financial data, Autohome's research and development investment exceeded 1 billion yuan in 2025. This money was invested in training the Cangjie big model, iterating the AI assistant, and restructuring the underlying architecture of the app. True transformation has always been about exchanging short-term profits for long-term space. Autohome's active investment may impact its current profits, but this is not a sign of declining operational capability, rather it is the inevitable result of proactive investment. Subsidies during Double 11, expansion of new retail stores, R&D of AI technology, iteration of app interface... Each restructuring requires time for cultivation, naturally leading to the voluntary relinquishment of short-term profits. But once the growth momentum is unleashed, the long-term space opened up is substantial. Strategic depth: Using ecological synergy as an engine, anchoring long-term value growth If brand rejuvenation is the external facade of Autohome's strategic restructuring, then deep integration into the Haier industry ecosystem, achieving comprehensive strategic synergy, is the core essence that unlocks underlying logic and realizes value growth. In February 2024, with Haier's subsidiary Kaitchee Holdings announcing the acquisition of 41.91% of Autohome's shares for approximately $1.8 billion, Haier's strategy in the automotive field gradually emerged - rather than being a direct automaker, it chose to restructure the new ecosystem of car circulation services through the integration of Wuxi Online Offline Communication Information Technology Co., Ltd. In the overall automotive planning landscape, Haier had already completed the strategic layout of offline car service networks. Its subsidiary Kaitchee, relying on a mature model of direct + franchise operations, had become a leading brand in the national used car retail chain by 2024, with expansion of franchise stores to 300. But relying solely on natural foot traffic from offline stores was not enough to support scalable growth. Kaitchee still needed an online entry point that could bring in continuous sales leads, and this is where Autohome's value lies. Through the strategic acquisition of Autohome's shares, Haier successfully created a full-chain O2O closed loop of "online traffic platform + offline service network". At the same time, Autohome leveraged Haier's industry resources to obtain scarce offline landing carriers, achieving a critical transition in development models. In November 2025, Autohome's online store was officially launched, with multiple mainstream car companies joining, signaling a shift from a singular content tool to a comprehensive ecosystem, integrating content, services, and transaction closures. In 2026, the platform announced its new retail strategy, planning to establish one thousand offline franchise stores, concurrently building a professionalized e-commerce operation system to accelerate offline layout. By leveraging Haier's vast channel network advantages, the future could see existing stores undergo lightweight transformations to create standardized car delivery and service points, penetrating deeply into lower-tier markets, filling gaps in service coverage in smaller cities, and effectively connecting the final link in automotive consumer services. Looking at the domestic automotive circulation industry, the integrated giants under Wuxi Online Offline Communication Information Technology Co., Ltd. still remain in a blank stage. The strong alliance of Haier + Autohome is expected to fill industry gaps, reshape circulation patterns, and reshape the dynamics. It is worth noting that although Ping An Property Insurance has transitioned from a controlling shareholder to a strategic shareholder, Ping An's empowerment of Autohome goes far beyond what the public imagines. Its strong financial background will continue to provide deep synergies in insurance, finance, and risk management capabilities for Autohome, injecting a stable foundation into its transaction scenarios and perfecting a full-cycle service model of "buying car - using car - maintaining car - replacing car". The Chinese automotive circulation field currently lacks a true giant that integrates Wuxi Online Offline Communication Information Technology Co., Ltd. Haier chose a path of not manufacturing cars but restructuring car services, while Autohome has evolved from an information platform to the core of an ecosystem. When Haier and Autohome's multiple resources move from physical stacking to chemical reactions, long-term value quietly grows within this ecosystem loop. Cash is thicker than market value: historical undervaluation opportunity Of course, to assess the long-term value of Autohome, one must look beyond short-term stock price fluctuations and directly examine the essence of core assets. Looking through the financial reports, this company that has been profitable for twenty consecutive years already holds two irreplaceable core chips, forming a safety margin that can transcend cycles. Firstly, visible cash value. Despite fluctuations in the stock price in recent years, Autohome's underlying stability remains strong. Traditional businesses such as media services, lead sales, online marketing, etc., continue to contribute positive cash flow. More importantly, Autohome's cash position exceeds its market value, resulting in an unprecedented safety margin: by the end of 2025, the company's cash assets totaled 21.36 billion yuan, total liabilities were 4.013 billion yuan, with net cash of 173.47 billion yuan. Based on Autohome's Hong Kong stock closing price on April 20, the market value of Hong Kong stocks was 18.521 billion Hong Kong dollars, equivalent to 16.236 billion yuan, demonstrating clear net cash > market value performance. Having more cash than market value means that Autohome's risk has been reduced to zero, with almost no downside potential left, and only the awakening value remains - comparing Autohome's static PE (10.99 times) and PB (0.65 times) on April 20 to see that its valuation is significantly lower than historical averages and the industry average of internet services. If the PE ratio were to return to a reasonable low level of 15 times, its stock price would have a potential increase of over 30%; if reverting to the Haier acquisition valuation (30 billion yuan), its stock price increase would be nearly 85%, approaching a doubling scenario, highlighting the strong valuation recovery potential. Secondly, invisible brand value. After over twenty years of deep cultivation, Autohome is no longer just an information platform, but a "trusted symbol" in the Chinese automotive consumer domain. By August 2024, Autohome had already reached over 500 million users, service providers from 26,000 dealerships, and over 100 manufacturers, establishing the most complete domestic car consumption data map and user reputation system. By the end of 2025, Autohome's transition to a "one-stop automotive ecosystem service platform" had shown clear effects; with the daily active users on the mobile end reaching 77.51 million, the new retail layout of Autohome Mall attracting 23 mainstream new energy brands, and the scale of the media MCN platform reaching over 100 million... all of these are intangible assets that competitors would find difficult to replicate. In the vertical field of automobiles, trust is the highest barrier. And trust, precisely, is the key keyword in this brand rejuvenation. Twenty years of trust formation cannot be erased by short-term profit fluctuations. This kind of brand trust is an important anchor for user decision-making, a core driver for continued cooperation with manufacturers and dealers, and the foundational base for the successful advancement of brand rejuvenation. Based on the above, it is clear that Autohome currently possesses significant undervaluation, high safety cushion, and potential for value revaluation. With the rare safety margin and 20 years of brand accumulation playing a role, the path for its value recovery is evident. Conclusion In summary, Autohome's brand rejuvenation is not just a simple image upgrade, but a profound transformation from media to ecosystem, from traffic to trust, from short-term profits to long-term value. The adjustments in short-term profits and valuation fluctuations are necessary stages in the process of transition. With Haier's ecosystem empowerment, Ping An's resource synergy, AI technological breakthroughs, and 20 years of brand accumulation, Autohome is building an irreplaceable long-term barrier. This sends a clear signal: Autohome is going through a solid "squatting jump" - every accumulation now is building momentum for future leaps. The stronger the foundation, the stronger the rebound potential, and the more anticipated the long-term value becomes.