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Bengaluru-based, self-drive car rental start-up Zoomcar is planning an overseas foray, targeting South Asian and African nations, including Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Kenya, Senegal and Cameroon.
According to Greg Moran, CEO and co-founder, Zoomcar India Pvt Ltd, the company is yet to take a call on the nations that it intends to enter.
He, however, pointed out that growth in these geographies and India will be driven by its asset-light marketplace model, which it has branded as ‘ZAP’.
An asset-light model for Zoomcar will mean not owning a fleet of its own. Rather, it will look to play the role of an aggregator that connects the owner of a car to a prospective customer.
“We are looking to expand in India and overseas. But we are not looking at any particular market as of yet,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the launch of ZAP in Kolkata.
ExpansionFounded in 2013 by Greg Moran and David Back, Zoomcar now owns a a fleet of nearly 2,000 cars under the Zoom brand and has listed 1,000-odd vehicles under the ZAP brand across 17 Indian cities.
As far as immediate expansion is concerned, the company will enter another 13 cities by June. The focus now will also be on expanding through the asset-light marketplace model.
According to Moran, by December, ZAP should account for 70-75 per cent of the firm’s fleet. As this model picks up, Zoomcar will look to sell off its own fleet of vehicles over the next 6-12 months.
The marketplace model with little inventory is expected to boost the company’s margins by at least 30-40 per cent.
Breaking evenAdding that the company was already breaking even in majority of the 17 cities, and at a per transaction per unit level, the CEO pointed out that the overall Indian operations is expected to break even by the end of this year. Moran, however, did not give revenue or profit numbers.
“At a company level, we should be profitable within this year,” he added.
Typically, the average revenue per day for Zoomcar is ₹3,000-6,000, depending on the type of car booked.
The self-driven rental space in India has seen a number of entrants, includingMyles, Revv and JustRide.
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