In recent days, an incident occurred when Zhou Hongyi, the founder of Chinese internet giant 360 company, was experiencing a test drive of a domestic electric car brand. While being introduced to the features of the scissor doors with anti-pinch function, Zhou unexpectedly got his hand caught when the door closed, resulting in a painful scream at the scene.
According to reports from The Paper and Jiemian News, on July 30, Zhou Hongyi, the founder, chairman, and CEO of 360 company, experienced a test drive of the Hao PHEV model under GAC Aion’s brand.
In the video footage, a staff member of the car company introduced the anti-pinch function of the seagull-wing door of the Hao PHEV to Zhou Hongyi. Zhou then placed his hand in the gap and pressed the door close button, causing the door to slowly descend.
Unexpectedly, the door did not immediately stop or reverse upon touching Zhou’s hand, but continued to close.
Subsequently, Zhou’s painful scream was heard in the video, prompting the staff to quickly lift the door, apologizing to Zhou and admitting that it should have been tested first. Zhou, with a grim expression, ignored the staff and kept shaking his hand.
A second test was conducted by the car company’s staff, but the anti-pinch function still failed to trigger.
The video sparked discussions among netizens, with many commenting humorously on the incident and expressing concerns about car safety features.
Prior to this incident, Zhou Hongyi had previously generated headlines due to a divorce case.
In April last year, 360 company announced that Zhou had divorced Hu Huan, transferring his directly held 6.25% stake in 360 company to her, with the shares valued at nearly 7 billion yuan.
This year, Zhou Hongyi has been actively involved in internet celebrity economy, with plans to establish himself as a leading internet influencer for 360 group’s live stream e-commerce. Despite denying plans for live streaming e-commerce, Zhou expressed interest in following the examples of tech influencers like Lei Jun and Yu Chengdong to promote 360.
360 is a Chinese internet company founded by Zhou Hongyi in 2005, primarily focused on security-related services. In May 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce included 360 and 23 other entities in the Entity List under the Export Control Act, alleging their technology contributes to the Chinese military and human rights violations. Since then, 360 company has continued to incur net losses.
In recent years, Chinese electric car brands have been facing quality issues and fire incidents. Last year, a video surfaced showing an owner of Geely Group’s premium electric car brand Zeekr, struggling with doors that couldn’t close properly on their Zeekr 009 vehicle.