BAIC sets up national car rental network

Beijing Automotive Group announced it will open a nationwide car rental network in late August.

Named Qingxiang, meaning easily shared, the network aims to join the forces of the nation's emerging car rental sector, which is likely to hit 1 million vehicles by 2020, according to Zhang Yong, head of BAIC New Energy Group's marketing unit.

The Qingxiang network will offer diversified deposit services, as well as recognition of auto ID cards and driving licenses. It will support car accident photography and tracing, as well as payment services.

To date, three BAIC subsidiaries have offered car rental services, covering public, commercial and tourism services in eight cities, including Beijing and Xiamen.

A total of 10,000 vehicles are serving 30 million people around China.

In the near future, BAIC New Energy will provide more car sharing services including travel, parking and charging, and will establish a wholly new environment for car rental businesses, Zhang said.

BAIC New Energy, one of the country's leading new energy vehicle makers, said the company will hit an annual production capacity of up to 800,000 vehicles by 2020.

Annual production and sales volume will both hit 500,000 vehicles, with a sales value of up to 60 billion yuan ($8.99 billion), according to the company.

BAIC projects the value of its listed assets will hit 100 billion yuan in that period.

Early this year, the automaker's EX200 model debuted with a mileage of up to 200 kilometers and is due to hit the market this year.

Last year the company's total sales hit 20,129 vehicles, 3.6 times higher than the previous year, accounting for 25.8 percent of the industry's total.

The State-owned enterprise is crowned as the market leader in sales of pure electric cars and No 4 in the world.

To date, the company has seen its pure electric cars sold in 32 cities around China, reducing the equivalent of 170,000 tons' carbon emissions, an equivalent of 350 million yuan in investment to prevent smog.

Last year, BAIC joined hands with other industrial giants to build alliances covering car rental, electric car logistics and charging facilities.

By 2015, it had set up 13,000 charging stations and 144 car rental branches.