China’s ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing spins off premier service as new brand for affluent users

Didi Chuxing, China’s largest ride-hailing platform, has spun off its premier service as a stand-alone brand as the company targets affluent users amid intensified competition.

“China is gradually leading the world in bike-sharing, ride-sharing and smart traffic management, and that should include car on-demand services as well,” Cheng Wei, founder and chief executive of the company, said at the launch event in Beijing on Friday.

The Didi announcement comes amid intensified competition in China’s ride sharing market. On Thursday, Shouqi launched an English language version of its ride-hailing app in a move aimed at expats travelling and working in the country. Over the past two years the ride-hailing market has also attracted new players like Meituan Dianping, the country’s largest on-demand service provider, and Caocao Zhuanche, backed by travel platform giant Ctrip and carmaker Geely.

Didi took over Uber’s China operations in 2016 after the two companies competed in a brutal price war. Soon after, Apple invested US$1 billion in Didi.

Cheng said the Didi Premier service brand was part of a broader effort to enhance the user experience across Didi's mobility services. “We expect to see the rise of more exciting family brands as we broaden our business to cover the entire transportation industry chain,” he said.