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Historic Car Maker Enters New-Energy Ride-Hailing Business

By Zhao Runhua / Mar 22, 2019 06:17 PM / Business & Tech

Photo: VCG

Photo: VCG

Ride-hailing and new-energy vehicles are two emerging industries that are attractive to both car makers and internet giants. And yet they’re also very different – and have incredibly high standards for entry.

Despite this, major companies are now collaborating to merge the two into one.

Chongqing Changan Automobile, one of the country’s oldest car makers, will establish a new joint venture with founding shareholders that include car manufacturers FAW and Dongfeng Motor, and affiliates of tech giants Tencent, Alibaba and Suning, the company announced on Friday, in order to invest in ride-hailing businesses operated with new-energy vehicles.

It's also widely suspected that the new joint venture could form its own new-energy ride-hailing fleet in China.

Chongqing Changan Automobile, FAW, and Dongfeng Motor will each pay 1.6 billion yuan ($238.85 million) in cash to acquire 16.39% of the new company’s total equity respectively. Alibaba's and Tencent's affiliates will pay 2.25 billion yuan along with two financial services companies and a tech company for 23.06% of the total equity, while Suning's affiliate has agreed to pay 1.7 billion yuan for 17.42%. The new company will likely be named Nanjing Lingxing Equity Investment Partnership Enterprise, according to an official announcement.

Major challenges await the new company. The sizable capital injections in the business’s early stages, intended to help attract passengers and boost market share, could add to financial risk, the announcement said. Securing the multiple licenses required for the business will also be difficult.

Related: Tencent, Changan Auto Announce Autonomous-Vehicle Joint Venture


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