Chinese ride-sharing app offers free rides to fend off Uber
There are some free rides in this world.
Chinese car-hailing app operator Didi Kuaidi is giving away 1 billion yuan ($161 million) worth of rides to commuters starting Monday to promote its new chauffeur service.
The company, backed by Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings, is expanding into the market for ride-sharing and carpooling after dominating China's market for online taxi-hailing.
The giveaway is aimed at Uber Technologies Inc. and Yidao Yongche, two other companies competing for the estimated $1 trillion-a-year market for transportation services in the world's most populous country.
China's car-hailing industry currently is dominated by Didi and Kuaidi, which together account for a combined 78 percent of ride bookings, with Uber a distant third at 11 percent, according to Analysys International, an industry researcher.
"Three years from now, our goal is to allow everyone to hail a taxi or get a ride within three minutes and to serve 30 million people per day," Cheng Wei, CEO of Didi Kuaidi, said in a statement. The company hopes to meet demand by supplying more cars in a more flexible way, he said in the statement.
Beginning Monday, commuters in 12 Chinese cities will enjoy free rides for Didi Kuaidi's chauffeur service every Monday for a month, according to the company.
Didi Kuaidi aims to create the largest "one-stop transportation platform" in the world, the company said. The goal is to cover commuting needs from hailing taxis through mobile apps, to carpooling and booking premium cars with chauffeurs, it said.
Formed out of an alliance of two competing apps, the two former rivals had engaged in intense competition, giving out subsidies to drivers and riders, before agreeing to work together in February.
Alibaba and Tencent own 10 percent and 13 percent, respectively, in the merged company.
Earlier this month, the city of Shanghai said it would include Didi Kuadi in a new taxi-booking platform, the first official recognition of mobile-booking apps. The company is in talks with more local governments about cooperating on car-hailing services, Cheng said, declining to name the cities.
By contrast, local media reported Uber's offices in Guangzhou in southern China were raided by local authorities.
Uber's China spokeswoman Huang Xue didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the company will match Didi Kuaidi's incentives.
The company, backed by Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings, is expanding into the market for ride-sharing and carpooling after dominating China's market for online taxi-hailing.
The giveaway is aimed at Uber Technologies Inc. and Yidao Yongche, two other companies competing for the estimated $1 trillion-a-year market for transportation services in the world's most populous country.
China's car-hailing industry currently is dominated by Didi and Kuaidi, which together account for a combined 78 percent of ride bookings, with Uber a distant third at 11 percent, according to Analysys International, an industry researcher.
"Three years from now, our goal is to allow everyone to hail a taxi or get a ride within three minutes and to serve 30 million people per day," Cheng Wei, CEO of Didi Kuaidi, said in a statement. The company hopes to meet demand by supplying more cars in a more flexible way, he said in the statement.
Beginning Monday, commuters in 12 Chinese cities will enjoy free rides for Didi Kuaidi's chauffeur service every Monday for a month, according to the company.
Didi Kuaidi aims to create the largest "one-stop transportation platform" in the world, the company said. The goal is to cover commuting needs from hailing taxis through mobile apps, to carpooling and booking premium cars with chauffeurs, it said.
Formed out of an alliance of two competing apps, the two former rivals had engaged in intense competition, giving out subsidies to drivers and riders, before agreeing to work together in February.
Alibaba and Tencent own 10 percent and 13 percent, respectively, in the merged company.
Earlier this month, the city of Shanghai said it would include Didi Kuadi in a new taxi-booking platform, the first official recognition of mobile-booking apps. The company is in talks with more local governments about cooperating on car-hailing services, Cheng said, declining to name the cities.
By contrast, local media reported Uber's offices in Guangzhou in southern China were raided by local authorities.
Uber's China spokeswoman Huang Xue didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the company will match Didi Kuaidi's incentives.
