Unlike the popular bike-sharing market in China, car-sharing has a hard time making profits in the country due to low acceptation and high maintenance costs.
Beijing-based car-sharing company Ezzy has suddenly closed down services, leaving its customers unable to withdraw their 2,000 yuan ($300) deposits on the platform.
The company, launched in Beijing in March 2016, said on its official social media account last week that it had suspended services and proceeded liquidation.
Ezzy is known for its luxury automobile fleet including BMW and Audi electric cars. The company takes 2,000 yuan from regular users as a deposit and charges them 1.5 yuan ($0.23) per minute for usage.
Many users that had filed applications on the app to withdraw their deposit in September have failed to get the money till today, suggesting that the company has already in financial trouble for a while, according to Chinese reports .
Founder of Ezzy said earlier that the registered users on the platform exceeded 100,000.
Although Chinese car-sharing platforms had previously numbered more than 370, of which about 100 were in operation as of the end of 2016, most of these companies are struggling to survive, as it is still an unpopular service with Chinese consumers. The cars need to complete at least six orders every day to make ends meet, said Chinese reports.
Unlike the popular bike-sharing market in China, car-sharing requires much higher investments as companies need to spend huge on vehicles and various maintenance expenditures including fuel, parking, and insurance.
