Audi may extend rent-by- hour service to mainland China

Hong Kong

BEIJING residents may soon be able to rent Audi cars by the hour with the tap of a smartphone, as the German luxury carmaker has rolled out the service in Hong Kong and considers introducing the service to cities on the mainland.

China's capital operates a lottery to distribute a limited number of licence plates to control the vehicle population, and the odds of winning one can be slimmer than playing roulette. The use of passenger vehicles is further restricted to select licence- plate numbers on certain days of the week, making car ownership even more onerous.