On April 6, Cititrip launched a chauffeur-driven rental service in Guangzhou and other 10 cities for the first time. It only costs 400 yuan to rent a short-distance medium-level car from Cititrip.

Currently there are several kinds of car rentals available. The first kind is provided by hotels and is relatively expensive; the second kind is provided by wholly-owned companies or joint-ventures with investment from foreign car rental giants such as AVIS. These companies usually don't operate very well in China due to their incompatibility with the local market. The last kind is long-term rentals provided by some professional car-rental companies. However, this service is provided only to corporate clients.

Mr. Xu Zhiyun, who is in charge of Cititrip's car-rental business, explained that the target clients of the short-term chauffeur-driven rental are business guests and travelers. This service will cost less than the car-rental provided by the hotels and it will save the renters the time that would otherwise be spent waiting for taxis.

Editor: Donald