(Yicai Global) July 8 -- Xiaoju Automobile Solutions, a unit of China's largest online ride-hailing platform Didi Chuxing, has set up a car company department and an energy business segment to make vehicle rentals the core of its three main businesses, which also include maintenance and energy, the company said today.

Xiaoju Automobile's offline layout has progressed rather slowly since its was formed over a year ago, and the firm has undergone a number of restructurings, General Manager Chen Ting said.

The latest change will focus on improving the platform's service capability, vehicle life-cycle management capability and urban service capability, and further deepen the D-Alliance program, jointly initiated and established by Didi Chuxing and 31 automobile industry chain companies in China, Chen said.

The car company department will integrate Xiaoju Automobile's original services of fleet asset management, car company cooperation and customized vehicle business after the organizational adjustment. Orange Energy, the new energy segment, will integrate its existing charging and refueling business and continue to cooperate with others in the vehicle energy field.

Xiaoju Automobile's original business segments include Xiaoju Auto Care, Didi Carsharing, Orange Energy, Xiaoju Refuel and Mobility Innovation Center. After the upgrade, Xiaoju Auto Care will consolidate the insurance and safe driving segments on the basis of its existing maintenance business, facilitate the linking with the Didi Carsharing platform, cut the incidence of safety accidents and insurance payouts, and reduce vehicle life-cycle costs through online and data-based management.

Xiaoju Automobile announced the establishment of a car service area to realize an overall urban business positioning and explore complete interconnection and coordination between car rental, maintenance and energy in a single city.

Didi upgraded its auto service platform to Xiaoju Automobile Solutions in August and invested USD1 billion in the platform.

Xiaoju Automobile Solutions spanned 257 cities and boasted more than 7,500 partners and distributors, with its annual trading volume reaching CNY60 billion (USD8.7 billion), according to statistics Didi released last year.

The reorganization shows that Didi is paying more attention to after-sales services in the auto sector. In terms of charging services, Orange Energy teamed up with China Southern Power Grid on June 26 to introduce 100,000 charging piles. On auto maintenance, Xiaoju Auto Care bought Hiservice, a Chinese car maintenance and repair service booking platform, last year and began expanding its offline business in more cities.