A Chinese mobile phone user uses the taxi-hailing and car-service app Didi Chuxing on his Apple iPhone smartphone in Jinan city, east China's Shandong province, Feb 22, 2015. [Photo/IC]

BEIJING - China's ride-hailing firm Didi announced Monday that it is launching car leasing business.

Didi launched a car leasing service in Shanghai in July and the service is scheduled to expand to several first and second-tier cities within the year.

Didi is in talks with several car leasing firms, including eHi Car Services which could help them cut operational costs.

Unlike traditional car leasing service, Didi users can book cars online and the cars will then arrive at their doorstep, it said.

Seeing huge market potential, several car leasing firms, including CAR Inc and Uucars, are increasing their investments.

China's car leasing market is forecast to grow to 54.4 billion yuan ($8.2 billion) in 2016 and then more than double by 2020, according to CIConsulting.

On August 1, Didi announced that it was taking over the China business of rival Uber.