DiDi Chuxing Invests in Used Car Sales Platform

China ride-hailing giant DiDi Chuxing is investing $200 million in RenRenChe, a Beijing-based e-trade service that helps consumers buy and list used cars.

Founded in 2014, RenRenChe was the first used-car trading platform in China. The company has more than 100,000 cars in 80 cities listed on its website.

DiDi plans to integrate its app and customer base with RenRenChe. This would increase RenRenChe’s reach to some 400 million DiDi users and 17 million drivers.

DiDi also plans to help RenRenChe develop new products and technology, and provide operational and business planning support. RenRenChe’s other investors include Ce Yuan Ventures, Shunwei Capital and Tencent.

Used-car sales in China are expected to rocket about 20% this year to 12.5 million vehicles, according to the China Automobile Dealers Assn. Online transactions account for about 10% of such sales, led by RenRenChe and its chief competitors: Guazi and Youxin.

DiDi also has made investments in several other new mobility companies recently—notably Careem, Grab, Lyft, Ola, Taxify and 99—as it expands into global markets. But the company says it has no plans to integrate RenRenChe with those businesses.