对抗Uber：滴滴快的与Lyft携手组成跨国打车联盟

    本周三（9月16日），Uber在中国的最大对手滴滴快的与美国打车服务初创企业Lyft共同宣布，滴滴快的已向后者投资1亿美元。

    滴滴快的是在今年春天和日本企业乐天、美国投资大亨卡尔•伊坎及其他团队共同进行的投资。而有关这笔巨额投资的传闻直到上周才被《华尔街日报》首次报道出来。

    Lyft总裁约翰•齐默在新闻发布会上称，按照投资协议，双方还计划从明年初开始允许自己的用户使用对方提供的服务。也就是说，滴滴快的用户到美国后就能通过Lyft打车；美国的Lyft用户到了中国以后也是如此。

    在美国，几乎没有人知道滴滴快的；但在中国，它是打车服务行业龙头，业务范围覆盖专车、顺风车、出租车、甚至通勤巴士。滴滴快的称自己有2亿注册用户。

    尽管Lyft在几年前就曾暗示打算拓展海外市场，但目前Lyft尚未在美国以外开展业务，这一点与其主要对手Uber不同。本次和滴滴快的合作将是Lyft首次向用户提供海外服务，而且省掉了在国外设点所需的大量投资。

    滴滴快的携手Lyft并不意外，它们有一个共同的对手，那就是Uber。在过去一年以来，中国打车市场的竞争变得格外激烈，甚至推动滴滴打车和快的打车这两位昔日对手在今年早些时候进行了合并。中国有超过8亿城镇居民，而汽车普及率只有10%，对打车服务公司来说这代表着巨大的市场机遇。

    对于Lyft是否计划在其他国家和地区开展类似合作的问题，总裁齐默未做出回应。（财富中文网）

    译者：Charlie

    校对：詹妮

    Didi Kuaidi, Uber’s biggest rival in China, has invested $100 million in ride-hailing startup Lyft, the companies said on Wednesday.

    Didi Kuaidi made the investment last spring, along with Rakuten, Carl Icahn, and others. Rumors of the Chinese ride-hailing behemoth’s investment first surfaced in a report from the Wall Street Journal last week.

    As part of the deal, the two companies are also partnering to let their customers book rides through the other, which is planned for early next year, Lyft President John Zimmer said during a press event. So when Didi Kuaidi riders visit the U.S., they’ll be able to request Lyft rides, and the same for U.S. passengers who travel to China.

    Little known in the U.S., Didi Kuaidi is China’s biggest ride-hailing company, offering a range of services including private rides, carpooling, taxi-hailing, and even commuter buses. The company says it has 200 million registered passengers.

    Unlike its main rival, Uber, Lyft doesn’t operate outside the U.S. despite having hinted a couple of years ago that it wanted to do so. The partnership with Didi Kuaidi will be the first time it’s offering an international service to its customers, while avoiding the huge investment of setting up shop abroad.

    The relationship between the two companies is not surprising, as they have a common enemy: Uber. The ride-hailing competition in China has become especially fierce in the past year or so, even leading to then-competitors Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache to merge earlier this year. With more than 800 million urban residents and a car ownership rate of only 10%, China represents a huge market opportunity for ride-hailing companies.

    Zimmer declined to comment when asked whether Lyft was planning similar partnerships in other countries.