eHi Car Service executive vice president Lihong Cai outlines the company’s situation in a recent media interview.
1. Currently 30%-40% of its business is B2B and 60%-70% is B2C.
2. Smartphone users account for 40% of total users and 55% are users. Showrooms attract few users.
3. The public transport reforms last month covering the Beijing metropolitan area will create significant areas of growth for eHi’s B2B business.
4. It has signed agreements with the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation’s Tesla and BMW for new energy cars.
Mr. Cai also touched on a few other issues:
Regarding the company’s financial valuation issue that surfaced before its IPO, he said, “The issue of disposing old cars and lost cars and the means of disposal are similar for car rental companies in China or overseas. eHi usually disposes of its old cars at second-hand auctions at 15% annual depreciation rate and factors in a certain amount for lost vehicles in accordance with international practice.
About the increasing popularity of P2P car rental he said: “Change is inevitable and will further drive the industry. eHi has taken note of the developments and will likely be an active participant in the future.”
3. About new energy cars he said: “Environmental consciousness will get stronger as the cities get more congested. New energy cars are not the top priority of eHi now but in the future their importance will increase. Right now the two bigger issues are the lack of battery charging outlets, a limiting factor for the development of new energy cars. As well, the salvage value of new energy cars remains unknown and is thus dealt with as per traditional cars.(Translation by David)
