this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2026
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BYD Ad Banned For Roasting Stellantis In Trade-In Offer (www.carscoops.com)
submitted 1 day ago by schizoidman@lemmy.zip to c/electricvehicles@slrpnk.net
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BYD used the ad to offer buyers up to €10,000 ($11,800) to those who bought a car and traded in a vehicle with a wet timing belt. That just happens to describe the timing system used in Stellantis’ PureTech engines, which run belts through a constant oil bath. These engines have been at the center of several recalls and warranty extensions linked to long-term reliability issues.

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[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

The IAP ruled that these messages violated Italian advertising rules against defamation, misleading commercial communication, and unfair comparative advertising.

Good call by the Italian authorities, I admit the way BYD did it as a trade-in offer is pretty clever, but comparative advertising is near impossible to do legally in EU exactly for the reasons stated. It will almost always be unfair and misleading, as it focus on features that disfavor the competition. This can quickly become an issue of actual defamation.

On another note, Chinese car makers can apparently make deals with EU for lower tariffs if they promise to not sell their cars too cheap. But how does that work when they make attractive trade-in offers?

[–] dupelet_comments@piefed.social 9 points 1 day ago (2 children)

How is it defamation if it's true?

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Obviously if it's true it is not defamation what I wrote was:

This can quickly become an issue of actual defamation.

This can be by context, for instance only mentioning bad aspects or anecdotal evidence.

[–] dupelet_comments@piefed.social 1 points 17 hours ago

Yes, but the ruling stated that they violated defamation rules, which implies defamation did happen.

[–] QWho@lemmy.world 1 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

It will almost always be unfair and misleading, as it focus on features that disfavor the competition.

[–] dupelet_comments@piefed.social 3 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

So if an ad were to make fun of how horrible Tesla's Full Self Driving feature is, that would be unfair and misleading? As opposed to the pain simple truth?

[–] QWho@lemmy.world 0 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

You can do as you please as a private person. If you are BYD, VW or Ford one has to play by the rules of the market.

[–] dupelet_comments@piefed.social 1 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

The question was how is it defamation, you're giving a non-answer that's nothing more than a blatant appeal to authority.

[–] QWho@lemmy.world 0 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Well, I am not the IAP nor the original comment author. But as far as I understand the rules, every comparative advertisement, that is saying competitor X is bad instead of our product Y is good, has the same problem: X can easily say that the selected feature is just one random pick of a range of features. They may retaliate with some other fact. That may also be factual true, let's say, BYD cars are build without union oversight.

And that starts a negative cycle. You can be in favour of that. It might be entertaining. But by the book that is not allowed to keep advertisement a little more civilized.

Whilst I'm not defending any advertisement at all, one can easily see what happens when it is allowed to talk about your enemies instead of what you provide. Just look at the logical end of this in form of the attack ads of the US political campaigns.

[–] dupelet_comments@piefed.social 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

The question I was asking is, how is it defamation if it's true. You seem to have wandered off onto a tangent of what constitutes ethical / civilised advertising.

one can easily see what happens when it is allowed to talk about your enemies instead of what you provide. Just look at the logical end of this in form of the attack ads of the US political campaigns.

More countries than not allow comparative advertising, and the world is not ending. Why use politics as an inaccurate example when the majority of countries actually practice it to some extent?

[–] QWho@lemmy.world 1 points 19 hours ago

So if an ad were to make fun of how horrible Tesla's Full Self Driving feature is, that would be unfair and misleading? As opposed to the pain simple truth?

One thing can be true and still be unfair. A true thing can be misleading. The ruling exists to make the decision easier and make clearer what is allowed or not and what is good business practices:

"Truthfully and fair talking about your business opponent is hard, so let it be and talk about your own strength instead."

and the world is not ending.

We will see about that. ;⁠-⁠)

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 2 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

But it's neither unfair or misleading. Those belts are a known problem.

[–] QWho@lemmy.world 0 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I think the rules are there to prevent a slippery slope. Ads, which I personally oppose as a whole, can always state positive thinks about the own brand.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 1 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

The rules are there to protect a large corporation and keep them selling defective products to customers.

[–] QWho@lemmy.world 0 points 18 hours ago

True. But BYD is also a very, very large corporation.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 2 points 22 hours ago

Stellantis’ PureTech engines, which run belts through a constant oil bath.

Ford did the same thing in European 1.0L EcoBoost and 2.0L EcoBlue engines and they all fail. This has been a known problem since 2007.

[–] Obi@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 day ago

These puretech engines are pure trash, like most of these modern combustion engines that use all kinds of tricks to lower emissions, totally unreliable. I have a Peugeot but it's the electric version.