Zoomcar in second phase of broader mobility vision with ZMS launch

Bangalore-based, Zoomcar has clocked a 400 percent rise in demand after the lockdown and around 15,000 car subscriptions were undertaken through its shared mobility platform recently.  The company believes the time is ideal to realise its second phase of broader mobility vision.

Car subscription is increasingly becoming popular, especially with the millennial population in India who look for convenient experiences that don’t come with owning a vehicle. According to Greg Moran, CEO and founder of Zoomcar, the number of subscriptions opted by the younger generation are higher in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune due to the concentration of more ‘techies’ who seem to be one of the early adopters followed by Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi NCR. This model is also suitable for those who like to experiment and prefer variety rather than sticking with one car for long periods of time. 

Speaking to Autocar Professional, Moran said, “Zoomcar Mobility Services (ZMS) is Zoomcar’s B2B SaaS offering providing a full-stack of mobility software solutions across vehicle segments. With the launch of ZMS, we will now provide access to its proprietary tech stack which focuses on reducing operating costs, enhancing safety, increasing vehicle monetization, and improving customer engagement. Soon we will be announcing several key partnerships with operating partners and OEM partners abroad and not just in India. ZMS reflects the gross margin profile of typical enterprise Saas businesses and will contribute meaningfully to the company’s stated profitability targets within this fiscal year.”

ZMS, which was launched in 2020, can be used across the entire spectrum of vehicle categories ranging from 2-wheelers, 3-wheelers, 4-wheelers, trucks and buses. It will work across both internal combustion and electric vehicles and is fully hardware agnostic. “While our first offerings are here in India, this is really a global product,” he added.

“AI and IoT are the two pillars on which our experience works, and Covid-19 has brought their importance into even sharper focus. For example, app-enabled keyless entry technology minimises human contact. We use AI for vehicle monitoring and predictive maintenance. Last year, we captured almost a 100 billion vehicle-related data points such as speed, distance, revolutions per minute, clutch and brake times,” Greg explained.

Subscribers to increase
Covid-19 has changed the dynamics and what used to be the normal till last year may well become obsolete in the coming weeks. Therefore, each industry needs to adapt itself to the new normal. According to Greg, the car rental industry is well-equipped and prepared to serve its customers. With the demand increasing, one of their main focuses is to add more vehicle models. They are also partnering with major automobile OEMs to offer a subscription.

“We have a lot of partners on the OEM side that are plugging into our ecosystem to grow their subscription business.  As a result, once vehicle numbers become more, they can put it on the Zoomcar rental platform for rental use. That is how we are expanding our inventory and vehicle count  exponentially. On the rental side, our focus will remain the top ten cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad,” Moran said.