BYD, Didi deepen collaboration on ride-hailing services

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- BYD will strengthen cooperation with Didi Chuxing, the Shenzhen-based automaker said, not for the first time. The automaker’s board secretary indicated it has spent nearly ten years for share in the taxi market, and it is making efforts to explore more share in the ride-hailing market recently.  

Shenzhen Didi New Energy Vehicle Rental, the two parties’ joint venture, was formed in 2015, with Didi holding 60% stake and BYD taking the remaining 40%. Shenzhen Didi was created to provide rental cars for drivers registered on ride-hailing platforms like Didi. The venture’s fleet comprises electric vehicles, most of which are from BYD, though some are made by other automakers, like BAIC Motor and Geely Automobile.

From 2016 through 2018, however, increasingly more annual net loss was reported in spite of the growing revenue. But that does not influence their confidence in the joint company. In July, 2019, the JV took 100% equity in Nanjing Jiangnan Electric Taxi to make a further step. 

Besides, in 2018 August, BYD also entered a strategic cooperation agreement with Changan Automobile to co-develop shared mobility services in the future, as well as manufacturing batteries for electric vehicles.

In 2018, 330 million users in China took ride-hailing taxis with a year-on-year growth of 15.1%, while 333 million people enjoyed the Express and the Premier service, which surged 40.9% from the year-ago period. It was estimated that the trading volume of China’s ride-hailing market would reach over 300 billion yuan ($43 billion) in 2019 and more than 500 billion yuan ($72 billion) in 2022 (photo source: Didi Chuxing).