The Next Big Hit? Car-sharing receives $12 bln investment in 2017

World
Europe

02:30

Many companies ranging from traditional automakers to online car-hailing services are announcing plans to get into the car-sharing sector. It seems as the next big thing after China's inventive bike-sharing initiatives. Will the transportation alternatives catch on? CGTN's Sun Ye reports from Shenzhen.

Yang Rongdong has ditched buses, subways, or hailing a taxi and come to DEPEND on car-sharing for his work commute each day.

YANG RONGDONG SALESPERSON "It is all about being cost-effective. Public transportation doesn't take me to the exact place. And going by sharing-cars costs ONLY about half of the taxi fare. He will have to check and register the car condition before and after on the app. But that's about the only extra work.

Yang Shen, from the city's top sharing-car service provider, says five people will use that car that day on average.

YANG SHEN CO-FOUNDER & CMO, PONYCAR "Car-sharing presents a price-range previously untapped. Cars are also put to much more use.

2017 came to be a boom year for Ponycar, as it rounded in 450 million yuan in funding. As for the sector in China, all combined, it received some 76 BILLION Yuan or 12 BILLION USD in investment.

YANG SHEN CO-FOUNDER & CMO, PONYCAR "2017 is THE year for us. Bike-sharing was what made the whole idea of sharing economy really ACCEPTED by all Chinese. And then there's so much market potential. Big-cities are getting used to it, but sharing cars have YET to get in all the third, fourth tier cities."

SUN YE SHENZHEN By 2020, more than 350 million Chinese will have their driving license. But more than 150 million of them will never actually own a car. And these are the people expected to get into car-sharing one of these days.

Forecasting the trend to catch on, China rolled out a national plan last August to promote car-sharing. It's especially encouraging the use of mini-size cars and new-energy vehicles. For salesperson Yang, he didn't get to buy a car in the first place because of the city's competitive car-plate lotting system. But a year now, he's just happy to SHARE the ride. Sun Ye, CGTN, Shenzhen.