China Auto Rental Holdings Inc. announced that Liu Yaxiao, IBM's chief technology officer for global technology service Greater China, has joined China Auto Rental as chief information officer.

In this new role, Liu will be responsible for the technology services at China Auto Rental as well as corporate technical and business innovations.

Before joining China Auto Rental, Liu had been serving at IBM and is reportedly one of the most experienced technical experts at IBM China. Liu has extensive experience in planning and design of corporate information system, mobile Internet, cloud computing, smart city, and Internet of Things solutions.

China Auto Rental was established in September 2007 and headquartered in Beijing. As one of China's leading car rental service providers, the company says it is dedicated to providing customers across China with superior car rental services, including short-term rentals, long-term rentals, financial leasing, and assorted value-added services. As of December 2013, the company operated in 69 major cities across China with over 720 service locations, serving more than one million individual customers and nearly 10,000 corporate clients.

The company previously submitted its prospectus for a potential IPO in Hong Kong.