China's car rental market to top $23.5 billion by 2025: report

A parking lot of car rental company CAR Inc., Shanghai, China, December 7, 2021. /CFP

China's car rental market is poised to enter a phase of rapid expansion, with its market scale estimated to top 150 billion yuan (about $23.5 billion) by 2025, according to a report released Tuesday.

The car rental market will see expeditious development amid China's COVID-19 containment work, according to the report jointly issued by Boston Consulting Group and the research institute of eHi Car Services.

The industry has achieved a 30-fold growth over the past two decades, stated the report, noting that its market size had reached nearly 90 billion yuan in China by 2020.

Consumption upgrade, penetration of new energy vehicles (NEVs) and technological evolution of self-driving vehicles are the three trends affecting the car rental industry, said the report.

Changes in attitudes – from owning a car to sharing a car – coupled with policy stimulus gave a strong boost to the car rental market, while the pandemic has also made consumers more susceptible to choosing rental services.

In the NEVs value chain, rental companies play a role in promoting technological upgrades, as electrification and smart network connection are important trends in the auto industry.

(With input from Xinhua)