Chinese automaker BYD Co. Ltd. (OTC:BYDDY) (OTC:BYDDF) has reportedly created a sub-brand tailored to address the needs of the ride-hailing industry.
Linghui Brand To Target Ride-Hailing Companies
In a regulatory catalog released by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Thursday, BYD showcased four different vehicles with an all-new logo and the "领汇" badge [translated: Ling Hui].
BYD didn’t immediately respond to Benzinga‘s request for comment.
The vehicles, which were sedans and an MPV, are reportedly the Linghui e5 (rebadged Qin PLUS EV), Linghui e7 (rebadged Sealion 06 EV), Linghui e9 (rebadged BYD Han sedan), and Linghui M9 (rebadged BYD Xia MPV), the filings showed.
The move could come as BYD's way of differentiating its products from the ride-hailing market, as fleet operators have come to adopt the manufacturer's vehicles, according to a report by Bloomberg on Friday.
China’s Ride-Hailing Push, Robotaxi Race
Chinese companies have been steadily expanding their presence in the international ride-hailing market, particularly in the autonomous driving sector. Baidu Inc.-backed (NASDAQ:BIDU) robotaxi company Apollo Go recently entered into a partnership with Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE:UBER) and Lyft Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) to offer robotaxis in London.
Apollo Go has become one of the leaders in the Robotaxi space, with the company announcing it had successfully achieved the 250,000 rides-per-week milestone.
Pony AI Inc. (NASDAQ:PONY), another Chinese autonomous driving company, also announced that it had signed a deal with Michigan-based automaker Stellantis NV (NYSE:STLA) back in October last year to bring Robotaxis to Europe via the automaker's AV-Ready Platform next year.
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