The Hong Kong stock market may soon welcome "China's largest used car trading platform." It has been revealed that on May 6, Yusheng Holdings Limited (hereinafter referred to as "Taoche Car") formally submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, aiming for a main board listing, with Citigroup acting as the sole sponsor. This comes eight years after its spin-off from the Hong Kong-listed company, Yixin Group, in 2018. The prospectus shows that Yixin Group currently holds approximately 44% of Taoche Car, making it the largest shareholder. Prominently featured on its shareholder roster are also Tencent and JD.com.
According to data from Frost & Sullivan, based on 2025 Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV), Taoche Car is China's largest used car trading platform, with a market share of 3.8%. Despite holding the "number one" title, a mere 3.8% market share clearly does not afford Taoche Car an absolute leading advantage within the industry. Data disclosed in the prospectus also reveals the true state of this leading player: in a trillion-yet-highly-fragmented market, even as a first-tier participant, Taoche Car remains in a loss-making position.
Evidently, in this fiercely competitive used car market, Taoche Car aims to achieve a breakthrough through its IPO and build differentiated barriers amidst homogenized competition.
Jiang Dong and the Backing Giants While Yixin Group is currently the largest shareholder, Jiang Dong, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Taoche Car, is clearly the central figure. Jiang Dong previously served as President of Yixin Group and later led the formation of Taoche Car's executive team, which includes veterans who held core positions at internet and automotive platform companies such as 360, Bitauto, and Autohome.
From an equity structure perspective, Jiang Dong holds significant influence in the company. As of December 31, 2025, Jiang Dong directly and indirectly controlled approximately 23.61% of the voting rights in Taoche Car and had been entrusted with 60% of the voting rights from the major shareholder, Yixin Group. This stable governance structure ensures strategic consistency during a period of long-term investment but also means the company's performance is highly dependent on management's judgment.
Taoche Car's predecessor was "Taoche," the used car business segment within Yixin Group, which was spun off for independent operation in 2018. This spin-off was seen at the time as a crucial strategic positioning move by the "Bitauto faction."
Since its establishment, Taoche Car has been favored by capital, having completed five rounds of financing totaling over RMB 4 billion. The latest round occurred in late February 2026, after which Taoche Car's valuation climbed to $1.002 billion. Both Tencent and JD.com have shown confidence in the company. According to the prospectus, Tencent holds a combined 17.49% stake in Taoche Car through its investment entities, while JD.com's subsidiary, Ambilight Ruby, holds a 2.74% stake. This represents not just capital but also an entry ticket into the ecosystems of these tech giants.
However, unlike the capital-light platform models popular in the market at the time, Taoche Car chose a more capital-intensive path: building not only an online platform but also establishing a network of offline self-operated sales centers. The prospectus shows that as of December 31, 2025, Taoche Car operated 62 offline sales centers and 9,294 designated display spaces across 53 cities in China, ranking first nationally in terms of the scale of both sales centers and display spaces. These nationwide sales centers form what Taoche Car calls its "moat," but they also bring substantial operating costs.
The patience of capital is being tested. After multiple funding rounds, Taoche Car has finally arrived at the doorstep of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, seeking fresh capital in the secondary market to support its extensive offline network. An automotive retail industry insider noted that the current used car market is intensely competitive. While Taoche Car's core advantages lie in its vast offline network and the traffic support from Tencent and JD.com, further breakthroughs will require additional financial backing.
Number One Position Offers No Guarantee of Victory Taoche Car remains at a critical juncture, striving to achieve breakeven. From 2023 to 2025, the company's revenue was RMB 4.429 billion, RMB 5.471 billion, and RMB 6.662 billion, respectively. In 2025, Taoche Car's retail sales of used cars reached 71,000 units, generating revenue of RMB 4.355 billion, a 15% year-on-year increase. Wholesale vehicle sales were 14,000 units, generating revenue of RMB 1.194 billion, a significant 78.3% year-on-year increase. The substantial growth in wholesale revenue was primarily due to a relatively low base in 2024. That year, against a backdrop of overall declining car prices, Taoche Car scaled back its vehicle wholesale operations in both domestic and international markets. The recovery in wholesale business in 2025 was attributed to efforts to build relationships with large institutional sellers and buyers, alongside a continued focus on driving sales growth in the Middle East and Africa markets.
However, Taoche Car's scale growth has not yet translated into profitability. The prospectus discloses that the company's annual loss for 2025 was approximately RMB 917 million, with the loss widening by about 60% compared to 2024. Taoche Car's profit margins are being severely squeezed by the new car market. In recent years, the domestic new car market has experienced an unprecedented "price war," with frequent price reductions for new cars directly undermining the residual value of used cars. This has significantly compressed the gross profit margins for used car dealers.
A harsher reality is the extreme fragmentation of the used car market share. Even as the industry leader, Taoche Car holds only a 3.8% market share. The four largest competitors following it hold market shares of 3.7%, 2.9%, 2.4%, and 1.8%, respectively, combining for a total share of just 14.5%. This indicates that in this trillion-yuan market, the leading players have not established a significant gap, and the vast majority of the market share remains in the hands of countless small and medium-sized dealers.
Taoche Car attempts to achieve standardization through its so-called "AI Brain" and TCN cooperative operation system. However, the non-standard nature of used cars, where each vehicle has a unique condition, limits the effectiveness of algorithms in complex offline transactions. Investment in research and development reflects the cost of this technological transformation. According to the prospectus, from 2023 to 2025, Taoche Car cumulatively spent over RMB 120 million on R&D. However, until this technology translates into a definitive competitive advantage, it remains a significant burden.
Furthermore, Taoche Car's overseas expansion is still in its early stages. In 2025, revenue from international operations accounted for only about 5.9% of the total. Overseas expansion represents a search for growth but also entails facing more complex international political and market risks. Although sales centers have been established in Dubai and Nigeria, volatility in the Middle East situation during 2025 has already impacted Taoche Car's international business.
For Taoche Car, the Hong Kong IPO is a necessary choice for survival, not a victory celebration. Caught between the allure of a trillion-yuan market and the harsh winter of new car price cuts, this "number one used car platform" must prove to the market whether its heavy offline fortress is a firewall against the cold or an unsustainable burden. Jiang Dong and his team are embarking on a journey more perilous than their initial startup phase.