Last week, Hu Xianhe, co-founder and CEO of Wukong Car Rental, said that in the future, people will generally pursue the use (car) rather than own (car). This is an unstoppable megatrend of socio-economic progress. "In the long run, the car rental method with on-demand cars is the ultimate form of (car) travel."
He even said firmly: "I can put my words here and look ten years later that every point I've made today is 100% true." Some media paraphrased Weilai Automobile Li Bin's sentence "I don't understand why anyone else buys a fuel car", describing Hu Xianhe as "I can't understand why there are still people who want to buy a car".
As the saying goes, what to drink is what to drink. There is no problem in itself that car rental is good, but if you firmly believe that "car rental is the ultimate form of the future", this view is a little too advanced. In this regard, we may wish to look at the example of "sharing" around us. From a small point of view, clothes, mobile phones, computers and other products are mainly "owned", behind which on the one hand is the consumption habits inherited for thousands of years; on the other hand, there is also an economic account, that is, expensive clothes, mobile phones, computers, the proportion of the entire consumption is also very small, individuals can fully afford it. Unless it is "public consumption" (e.g. crew costumes, special costumes for a tourist attraction, etc.). In the big picture, renting has been advocated for many years, but it still can't pass the "mother-in-law" level, which is the reality. Therefore, past history tells us that no matter the size of the goods, as long as they are within the consumption power of the vast majority of people, they will be dominated by private consumption.
As far as the car is concerned, if it is only used as a means of transportation, the cost performance of buying a car is indeed much lower than that of renting a car, but in reality, whose car is just a simple tool for travel? The car is still a synthesis of personal aesthetics, face, strength and means of transportation. Especially with the popularity of smart cars, the personalization of cars will be more obvious, and the binding effect with individuals will be stronger, at this time, the transportation attributes of a smart car are declining, and the partner effect will be improved, which is exactly the opposite of the concept advocated by shared cars.
The author believes that in the future mode of travel, personal ownership of cars will still occupy an absolute mainstream position, and car sharing is still a demand in a few scenarios.