Daimler Mobility Services and Geely Group Company plan to form a premium ride-hailing joint venture in China. The 50-50 joint venture will be headquartered in Hangzhou.
The JV will provide ride-hailing mobility services in several Chinese cities using premium vehicles including but not limited to Mercedes-Benz vehicles. The fleet initially will include Mercedes-Benz S-Class, E-Class and V-Class and Maybach vehicles and could be supplemented by premium electric vehicles of the Geely Group.
As part of the JV, both the companies will be equally represented on the board of the new ride-hailing service, for which the two companies will jointly develop the software infrastructure required to support the business in China.
Both the companies are also working individually on mobility services. Geely Holding has launched CaoCao, the Chinese domestic ride-hailing service that currently has more than 17 million registered users, with one million regular active users on the app providing more than 29,000 pure electric vehicles in 28 cities across the country and with over 360,000 completed trips throughout the country on a daily basis.
Daimler with car2go and Car2Share, Daimler is currently providing free-floating as well as station-based car-sharing services to over 470,000 customers in China who have completed over 20 million kilometers in car-sharing journeys. Globally through, car2go, moovel as well as mytaxi/Intelligent Apps the company accounts for 26 million customers. With the JV, Daimler Mobility Services will enlarge its global presence. It is also another step in the implementation of the Daimler CASE strategy, with its four pillars Connected, Autonomous, Shared & Service and Electric Drive.
The implementation of the JV is subject to approval by the merger control authorities and the financial terms and the investment plans of the JV have not been disclosed at this stage.
“We are delighted to have defined terms for a premium ride-hailing joint venture with Daimler Mobility Services”, said An Conghui, Geely Holding President. “The development of such services, in which both companies already have a presence, forms part of our transformation from a vehicle manufacturer into a global automotive technology group”
Klaus EntenmannCEO Daimler Financial Services AG said “Daimler is ideally positioned to continue its transformation by expanding into a comprehensive mobility services company as we pave the way to autonomous driving. With Geely Group, we have found an excellent partner to expand our mobility services in China. The joint venture will play a significant role as we continue to enlarge our portfolio and global presence and solidify our strong position in the mobility market.”
Source: Press Release
