BEIJING, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- China's car rental providers are gearing up for a shift to greener and smarter cars as new energy vehicle (NEV) penetration continues to rise, adding new dynamics to market competition.
According to the China Automobile Dealers Association's automotive market research branch, China's domestic passenger vehicle retail sales in July were forecast at roughly 1.52 million units, with NEVs accounting for 980,000. The NEV penetration rate was expected to reach a record high of 64.5 percent.
Leading car rental providers are accelerating their fleet restructuring and continuously expanding their NEV offerings.
In July, XPeng Motors delivered 1,300 NEVs to car rental provider CAR Inc., pushing new NEVs into large-scale car rental application scenarios.
Prior to this move, in 2025, the company purchased about 100,000 new vehicles, of which NEVs accounted for nearly a half, according to a senior official with the rental provider.
Other car rental giants such as eHi Car Services and Trip.com Car Rental are also expanding their fleet of NEV models, making NEVs a key focus of their vehicle supply strategies. Some providers have been injecting popular new NEV models into daily rental services.
Since the beginning of this year, eHi Car Services has received 1,000 smart SUVs from the Chinese automaker Geely Auto Group and 2,000 smart vehicles from the Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd.
Echoing car market trends and user demands, car rental providers are also racing to make their rental services more intelligent, to match the expansion of smart NEV fleets.
In July, CAR Inc. launched a dedicated intelligent driving zone in its app, integrating NEV model selection, intelligent feature introductions, model recommendations, and AI-powered vehicle Q&A services into a one-stop portal. Covering more than 40 mainstream NEV brands, it provides users with one-stop intelligent mobility services from model screening to vehicle usage.
According to industry insiders, the accelerated deployment of new energy and intelligent car models by rental providers is driven by both operational costs and changes in consumer demands.
"Compared to fuel-powered vehicles, NEVs have lower operating costs. As consumers are increasingly accepting intelligent assisted driving, car rental is gradually becoming an important means for users to experience new energy and intelligent vehicles," said Ou Guoli, a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University.
Now, some consumers prefer to rent NEV models during holidays to experience intelligent driving and the cost of actual trips. Such experiences in turn serve as a major reference for the purchase of their own automobiles.
In the past, intelligent driving was not a key demand factor for users as the related technology was not mature. Users focused more on space, functionality, and the comfort experience when purchasing cars.
"As new car models become increasingly diverse and differentiated, intelligent driving has become a key element of smart cars. More and more young car buyers and users have incorporated intelligent driving into their considerations for car purchase and usage choices," said Gao Dewu, CEO of CAR Inc.
The deployment of NEV models by rental providers is driven by the country's policy orientation and their asset management, according to Zhang Yejia, general manager of the automotive industry division at CCID Consulting under China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
China has set the dual carbon goals of peaking carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060.
"Under the advancement of the dual carbon goals, some cities have established requirements for the proportion of NEVs in operating vehicle fleets. Purchasing NEVs is no longer merely a competitive advantage for car rental providers, but also a basic requirement for their compliant operations," Zhang said.
In the future, the upgrading of NEV fleets will reshape the business models and service systems of car rental providers, Zhang said. Aside from building differentiated intelligent NEV fleets tailored to specific rental scenarios, they also explore higher fleet utilization efficiency by leveraging power from modern intelligent technologies, he added.
"On the service side, they can further expand into related NEV application scenarios such as charging, parking and cultural tourism, enhancing the end-to-end travel experience for users throughout their journey," Zhang added.
Globally, Ou said, the automotive industry is accelerating its transformation toward new energy and intelligence, and car rental providers are seizing chances by making large-scale purchases in line with this trend.
"Looking ahead, the focus of competition in the car rental industry will shift from price competition to value competition. Intelligence and the capacity to build new industry ecosystems integrating new energy supply, parking and tourism will sustain long-term industry competition," Ou added. ■
