Lyft與滴滴快的組建全球聯盟挑戰優步

Two of Uber’s biggest competitors have formed a global alliance, presenting the San Francisco-based ride-hailing company with its most formidable competition to date.

優步(Uber)的兩大競爭對手已組建一個全球聯盟，向這家總部位於舊金山的叫車公司發起迄今最嚴峻的挑戰。

Lyft and Didi Kuaidi, the biggest Uber competitors in the US and in China respectively, will allow each company’s customers to use the other’s services when travelling, as a part of a broader co-operation agreement.

Lyft和滴滴快的分別是優步在美國市場和在中國市場的最大競爭對手。作爲一項更廣泛合作協議的一部分，這兩家公司將讓自己的顧客在對方國家旅行時能夠使用對方的服務。

This year Didi also invested $100m in Lyft, in a financing round led by Rakuten that included Chinese internet groups Alibaba and Tencent.

今年，滴滴快的還在Lyft的一輪融資中向後者投資1億美元。那輪融資由樂天(Rakuten)主導，中國互聯網集團阿里巴巴(Alibaba)和騰訊(Tencent)也參與了。

Uber is the world’s largest ride-hailing company in number of countries served, but recently it has faced increasing competition from homegrown champions operating in specific markets.

按服務國家數量計算，優步是全球最大的叫車公司，但最近該公司在某些市場遭遇本土冠軍企業構成的日益激烈的競爭。

The tie-up is the first major co-operation between ride-hailing companies in different countries, and more are expected to emerge.

Lyft與滴滴快的結盟是不同國家叫車公司間的首次重大合作，預計未來還將出現更多的合作。

Didi is the largest ride-hailing company in China by number of daily rides, and has been strengthening ties with Uber’s competitors around the world. This year it invested in GrabTaxi, which is based in Southeast Asia. “Didi’s strategy is to work with local champions,” said Jean Liu, Didi president. “We do not rule out any possibilities.”

按每日用車次數計算，滴滴快的是中國最大的叫車公司，而且一直在與優步在全球各地的競爭對手加強合作。今年，滴滴快的向總部位於東南亞的GrabTaxi注資。“滴滴的戰略是與當地的冠軍企業合作，”滴滴快的總裁柳青(Jean Liu)表示，“我們不排除任何可能性。”

The threat posed by Uber’s rapid expansion and its well-funded war chest has raised the stakes for local competitors in markets ranging from China to India and Southeast Asia.

優步的快速擴張及其雄厚的資金實力所構成的威脅，讓從中國、印度到東南亞等市場的本土競爭對手不得不加大賭注。

Lyft has been in talks with Indian ride-sharing company Ola about possible co-operation, a move that would further strengthen the global alliance, according to a person familiar with the matter.

一名知情人士稱，Lyft一直在與印度共乘公司Ola就可能的合作進行談判，此舉將進一步強化這個全球聯盟。

Competition between Uber and Didi in China is fierce, as they fight for market share among the 800m urban dwellers. Uber plans to invest $1bn in its Chinese services this year. Meanwhile, Didi reported losses of more than $500m in the first five months of this year, according to documents seen by the Financial Times, implying annualised losses of $1.4bn.

優步與滴滴快的在中國的競爭很激烈，雙方正努力在中國8億城市居民中爭奪市場份額。優步計劃今年對其中國業務投資10億美元。與此同時，英國《金融時報》看到的文件顯示，滴滴快的報告稱，今年頭5個月公司虧損逾5億美元，這意味着年化虧損爲14億美元。

“Uber is a good competitor, but we feel really good about our position in China right now,” said Ms Liu, pointing out that Didi held greater market share than its US competitor.

柳青表示：“優步是一個不錯的競爭對手，但我們對我們目前在中國的地位感到相當滿意。”她指出，滴滴快的在中國的市場份額大於優步。

The Lyft and Didi partnership will include collaboration between their technology and product development teams, and cross-regional marketing efforts.

Lyft與滴滴快的的合作，將包括各自技術和產品開發團隊之間的合作，以及跨地區營銷活動。

Starting early next year, users of Lyft and Didi will be able to hail rides with the other company’s drivers when they travel to China and the US, respectively.

從明年初開始，Lyft的用戶在中國旅行以及滴滴的用戶在美國旅行時，將分別可以叫到對方公司司機的車。

This will give Lyft access to the growing number of Chinese tourists in the US — about 3m last year — and will give Didi access to the roughly 5m US tourists visiting China annually.

這將讓Lyft能夠與人數不斷增長的赴美中國遊客（去年約爲300萬人）建立聯繫，並讓滴滴快的與在華美國遊客（每年約500萬人）建立聯繫。