Ride-hailing app Ola has set ambitious plans for its vehicle commerce platform Ola Cars for the coming 12 months.
The Bangalore-based company said it will hire 10,000 people as it eyes a market leadership position with US$2 billion GMV (gross merchandise value) in a year. Ola Cars was formally launched in August this year and it has already sold over 5,000 pre-owned cars in its first full month of operation.
The platform enables customers to buy pre-owned vehicles through the Ola app. It also offers facilities such as doorstep test drives and a seven-day questions-asked return of a purchased vehicle. The company had said the Ola Cars will begin with pre-owned and, over time, Ola will open it up for new vehicles from Ola Electric and other automotive brands.
Ola Cars plans to increase its reach to 30 cities in the next two months and 100 cities by next year.
The company said, “In the middle of the ongoing festive season, Ola Cars have started pre-owned vehicle sales in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad, and will also expand to Chandigarh, Jaipur, Kolkata, and Indore by end of this week, all through the Ola app, to provide customers a reimagined vehicle commerce experience,” it added.
The platform has plans to hire 10,000 people, but did not disclose the timeline for the recruitment plan. Ola is also setting up service centers across the country to provide a dramatically better experience through advanced telematics, AI, and Vision-based systems that ensure high-quality repair work and advanced robotic paint shops will provide paintwork that will match factory finish, as well as the promise of genuine auto parts.
With Ola Cars, we are redefining the entire car buying, ownership, and resale experience. Our ‘better than new’ buying experience is driving tremendous demand with over 5,000 cars already sold in our first full month of operation. We are rapidly expanding to 100 cities in the coming months and are adding 10,000 people across key areas including sales and service centers, Ola Cars Chief Executive Officer Arun Sirdeshmukh said.
In his letter, Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said, “Our vehicle commerce business, Ola Cars, has scaled up rapidly to become a large operation, and our Delivery and Financial Services businesses are at key inflection points.
As we look forward to Ola’s next phase of growth, we are making some key updates to our organization that will enable us to capture the opportunities that lie ahead.”
Ola has new growth plans, including setting up a 24 billion electric vehicle facility to manufacture two-wheelers. Ola’s ride-hailing business is recovering after the Covid-19 pandemic setback, and the demand for its food business and financial services have improved.
Ola plans to raise up to $1 billion through an initial public offering in the next few months. It competes with players such as Droom, CarDekho, and Cars24, among others.