Rituparna Chatterjee – Mumbai
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Sakshi Vij
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To cater to the growing demand for self-drives in India, Carzonrent, an Indian car rental company, has ambitious plan to expand to around 1000 fleets under the self drive segment by end of 2014 of which 10 per cent would be in the luxury space. In the self-drive segment, an investment of Rs 400 crore would be made in the next three to five years. “This year we see many movements in the Indian economy like growing business and first class travel, influx of many A380s and larger hotel chains investing in the country. These changes will benefit the luxury segment and the takers for this product will increase,” stated Sakshi Vij, executive director, Carzonrent (India). She added, “Presently, we have 20-22 per cent of the market share and our revenue run rate is Rs 350 crore and we are expecting to achieve Rs 500 crore by 2015-2016.”
The company which entered into the self-drive segment under the brand ‘Myles’ in November 2013 with 14 cars across four cities has presently grown to offer a fleet of around 300 cars across 16 cities.
“The demand for luxury cars in this segment is mainly coming from young urban professionals aspiring to ride a Mercedez Benz, car junkies and we also expect a large number of SME’s to avail this product. In addition, the pricing has also been kept affordable at Rs 900 per hour including fuel for 25 kilometres and Rs 6500 per day excluding fuel,” added Vij.
“Owing to the trend of international travel, growing awareness among Indian consumers on how cars are rented, it was the opportune time for us to launch the self-drive concept in India,” opined Sakshi Vij, executive director, Carzonrent (India). Initially the company offered SUVs, hatchbacks, sedans under its self-drive segment, but with the increasing demand for luxury cars, the company in association with Mercedez Benz recently entered into this space and is offering C- and E- Class models. Depending upon the market response, the company will go on to offer S-, L- and K-Class models as well. Presently, under the luxury self-drive segment, the company has a fleet of 20 Mercedez Benz cars across five cities – Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru.
