Didi starts free car-sharing trial amid industry challenges

The Beijing-based Togo, an internet car-sharing company founded in July 2015, was once considered a dark horse in the industry as it raised around 500 million yuan and expanded into the markets of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chengdu in just two years.

However, since Togo's withdrawal from the Nanjing market, consumers have found it very difficult to get a refund on their deposits, as the company has limited the quota on deposit refunds to only 15 people per day.

According to open statistics, it will take hundreds of years for Togo to refund all the deposits to its 3 million users, as there has been no car available on its platform since the start of the year, according to a report by news portal Jianmian.com.

Wang Lifeng, Togo's CEO, said the company is undergoing enormous adjustment, including in the company's structure and business model, in video footage provided by a Togo user surnamed Jin earlier this month. Wang added that the company has experienced "very big trouble", but the company has maintained its technical platform and will add new cars after the problems are solved.

Fu Qiang, founder of the collapsed car-sharing provider EZZY, once said high operational costs led to the company's failure. If a user pays 30 yuan for a single order, then the overall cost can be 60 yuan, and the funds we raised are not enough to save us, he added.