Gadgets
China's Didi Chuxing introduces stand-alone, affordable ride-hailing operation.
(Reuters) On Wednesday, China's Didi Chuxing confirmed the introduction of a new standalone ride-hailing application targeting younger users and providing cheaper rides relative to its existing app.
Didi, China's largest ride-hailing firm and sponsored by Japan's SoftBank, said in a statement that the new service was branded "Huaxiaozhu" and that it had already been introduced in several cities in China 's southwestern province of Guizhou and the eastern province of Shandong.
The latest offering is not part of Didi's current network. Huaxiaozhu has a different device with a design that looks like a cash bowl.
Spending less time means spending more money, Huaxiaozhu said in a post on his official Weibo page, announcing the project.
Rides booked via Huaxiaozhu start from as low as 5.5 yuan ($0.79) and users can receive discount coupons for rides by engaging in the activities provided by the app, such as recommending a service to mates.
The introduction of Huaxiaozhu is a follow-up to Didi 's roll-out of new distribution and logistics facilities this year in the expansion of its activities in China.
It also comes after Didi CEO Cheng Wei stated in April that the business was targeting to complete 100 million orders a day and to have 800 million active monthly users worldwide by 2022.
Didi said Wednesday that the initial public offering ( IPO) was not a goal for the company and that it had no intention for one after the Chinese media stated that it was planning to sell its stock in Hong Kong.
Source: Reuters; Reporting by Yilei Sun and Yingzhi Yang in Beijing, and Brenda Goh in Shanghai; Editing by Louise Heavens and Tom Hogue
