Huasheng Haoche announced its 500th high-tech store in Lanzhou, China.
Mar 15, 2019 /EqualOcean/ - Huasheng Haoche (花生好车) announced its 500th high-tech store opening in Lanzhou, China. CHEN Pengyun (陈鹏云), the company's co-founder, mentioned the company’s drive to bring more models and rental products to consumers through its 5S service, according to EO Auto.
The 5S Service is a “Sale Lease”, a service providing more selection for SKUs. It’s made up of the following features which respectively provides the following services: “Scene-Connect” which connects customers to its platform; “Spreader-Consumer” which can make customers their promoters; “Service-Relaxed” which provides a relaxed and simple car service.
The company has also signed a cooperation agreement with SAIC-GM and Hezhong New Energy. Buick and Chevrolet will enter Huasheng Haoche’s platform.
Huasheng Haoche is considered a Chinese unicorn and has been reported to be targeting young buyers in smaller Chinese cities. As their newly established 5S Service appears to streamline their customer experience while simultaneously cutting marketing costs, it's likely to be valuable from both the consumer and company perspective.
According to KrAsia, CHEN Pengyun told their parent company, 36Kr, in an exclusive interview that “people will play down the importance of ‘car ownership’” which implies that car rentals are the way of the future. The rental market has always been relatively strong in China but is seeing its decline due to overcrowding and disorganization in the bike share market as reported by The Atlantic. Whether this problem will transition into the car rental market may depend upon traffic law quality and relevant policies in the company’s targeted cities.
However, Huasheng Haoche may face a problem in the near future as low public transportation costs and convenience provides a strong incentive for people to stay using public transportation. Therefore, the market is quite segregated. Additionally, with other companies competing in the car rental market, car rental prices will become increasingly more competitive which Huasheng Haoche will need to provide incentives to keep or lure customers. For example, if Huasheng Haoche were to include autonomous cars and electric cars as part of their rental platform in the future, it would add more variety and attract customers interested in these types of cars.
Huasheng Haoche provides a retail platform for automobiles that use a “first-come-first-serve” model, according to CrunchBase. They also provide financial car guidance and general car guidance services. On Oct 25, 2018, the company received its Series B funding led by Crescent Point Group, a private equity firm, according to Finance Asia. Huasheng Haoche has a total funding amount of USD 360 million.