GM Buys Stake in Chinese Car-Sharing Company
October 12 2016 - 3:45AM
Dow Jones News
SHANGHAI-- General Motors Co. has invested in Chinese
car-sharing company Yi Wei Xing (Beijing) Technology Co., the
latest foray by the U.S. auto giant into alternative transportation
services.
Yi Wei Xing works with car-rental companies and allows customers
to rent cars by the minute, hour or day through its smartphone app,
Feezu. Established in 2014, the company operates in more than 40
Chinese cities.
"Every market has its unique requirements for car-sharing
services," said Julia Steyn, GM vice president of Urban Mobility
Programs. "Yi Wei Xing has solid technologies and innovations that
will help us explore more efficient and personalized mobility
solutions for consumers in China."
Spokeswomen at GM and Yi Wei Xing both declined to disclose the
size of the investment.
Global auto makers are expanding into the car-sharing segment in
response to fast-growing ride-hailing and car-sharing services
offered by technology companies like Uber Technologies Inc. Auto
executives are concerned that more consumers would rather borrow
cars than own them.
GM's investment in Yi Wei Xing follows the launch of Maven,
which provides short-term car rentals, earlier this year and a $500
million investment in ride-hailing company Lyft Inc.
BMW AG runs a car-sharing service called DriveNow, which
competes against rivals such as Daimler AG's Car2Go. Ford Motor Co.
in June unveiled plans for car-sharing projects in select cities in
the U.S. and in London.
China's rapidly growing car-sharing market has shown huge
potential. Orders for car-hailing services totaled about 2 billion
in 2015, with nearly three-fourths of that coming from Didi Chuxing
Technology Co., according to market researcher ReportLinker. Didi
Chuxing, created last year by a merger of two taxi-hailing
providers backed by Chinese technology giants Alibaba Group Holding
Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd., bought Uber's Chinese operations in
August.
Rose Yu
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 12, 2016 03:30 ET (07:30 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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