英闻天下——207 Car Rental Booming during Spring Festival Rush

 　　The National Development and Reform Commission, the nation's top economic planner, estimates the population will make some 3.4 billion trips during Spring Festival using cars, buses, trains, airplanes and ships.

 

　　Comparing to other transportation, some people choose to travel by renting a car during the annual travel peak. And the new policy that exempts¹ drivers from expressway toll² fees during national holidays adds to the attraction of renting a car.

 

　　One customer says he has rented a car from February the 4th to the 12th, and it costs him about 3000 yuan.

 

　　China Auto³ Rental⁴ in Beijing, one of the nation's biggest in 66 cities, is reporting that 95 percent of its inventory⁵ has already been booked for the period.

 

　　The average cost for a compact car at China Auto Rental is 275 yuan a day. Combined with 40 yuan a day for insurance, a commission of about 30 yuan for each deal and gasoline, the total spending for the seven-day Spring Festival is about 3,000 yuan, an affordable⁶ price for many.

 

　　Here is Yang Yanying, vice⁷ president of the China Auto Rental in Beijing.

 

　　"The average occupancy rate of our car rental across the country has reached about 60 percent. In some cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Sanya, the number has surpassed 70 percent. We estimate that the nationwide occupancy rate of our car rental will be as high as 90 percent during the Spring Festival, and the number can be 100 percent in some big cities."

 

　　Like China Auto Rental, many other car rental companies have also seen their business booming for the Spring Festival travel peak. Zhang Yan, customer service employee of another car rental company in Beijing says they have increased their storage for the increasing demand in the market.

 

　　"To prepare for the peak season during the coming Spring Festival, we have added 1000 cars for rental. Therefore, we have about 6000 cars in total, among which about 3800 cars have already been booked up to now."

 

　　Media reports rental surge is not limited to Spring Festival. The overall industry is now in the fast lane.

 

　　According to a report by Germany's Roland Berger Strategy Consultants⁸, China's auto rental market is projected to grow 25 percent a year at least until 2015.

 

　　Its statistics show that China's car rental industry generated some 20 billion yuan or 3.2 billion US dollars in total revenues in 2011. The figure is expected to reach 39 billion yuan in 2015.

 

　　The momentum⁹ is attracting global players looking for a new profit stream amid economically challenging times.

 

　　For CRI, I am Wang Wei.

1 exempts   

使免除[豁免]( exempt的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• This privilege, however, exempts only predecisional documents. 然而，此特权只免除那些文件在作出决定之前的披露责任。
• Function effectiveness: After then special-purpose, exempts the flushing formula. 功能效用：便后专用，免冲洗配方。

2 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

3 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

4 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。

5 inventory   

n.详细目录，存货清单

参考例句：

• Some stores inventory their stock once a week.有些商店每周清点存货一次。
• We will need to call on our supplier to get more inventory.我们必须请供应商送来更多存货。

6 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

7 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

8 consultants   

顾问( consultant的名词复数 )； 高级顾问医生，会诊医生

参考例句：

• a firm of management consultants 管理咨询公司
• There're many consultants in hospital. 医院里有很多会诊医生。

9 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。