BMW has obtained a licence to provide ride-hailing services in Chengdu, the capital city of south-west China’s Sichuan province, making them the first foreign carmaker to do so in China.
According to a company statement on Wednesday, BMW Mobility Service, a fully owned subsidiary of the BMW Group, was established in Chengdu earlier this year and obtained the license this month. Joseph Pattinson, manager of the Chengdu company told the FT that they “look forward to bringing innovative new mobility services to Chengdu later this year”.
China’s ride-hailing market is already worth $30bn and will grow to $72bn in 2020, according to estimates by consulting firm Bain & Company. Didi Chuxing, the Beijing based ride-hailing company, is country’s dominant player with an over 90 per cent market share after its 2016 acquisition of Uber China.