For an automobile company to engage with a ride-hailing platform is nothing new, and we have seen Tata and Uber partner, in the past, to provide vehicle financing options, insurance benefits and other related initiatives.
When Uber can do it, why not Ola? India’s largest cab-hailing service has tied-up with India’s large automobile maker, Mahindra, to offer a wide range of products for the Ola partners. The initiative is aimed at creating a one-stop shop for drivers with Ola and increase the sales of Mahindra vehicles.
“This is going to completely change the auto industry. Car companies are going to have to recognize this reality and find ways of participating in this new world of shared mobility,” Anand Mahindra, Chairman and Managing Director at Mahindra, said in an interview. The alliance with Ola is expected to generate $400 million in revenue and 40,000 more driver partners over the next two years via car and service sales.
The ‘Mahindra-Ola package’ deal will offer all the goodies to the drivers like choice of vehicle at attractive prices, vehicle financing options with zero down payment, subsidized insurance premiums and lower interest rates. We believe the KUV100, TUV100 and XUV500 will be the cars made available to driver partners.
For Ola, it might be a good thing, as they’ll generate greater revenues, but Mahindra has clearly stated that this deal is not exclusive, and the company may tie-up with other similar ride-hailing companies to offer deals on automobiles to driver partners.
Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-Founder and CEO, Ola said, “We are delighted to work with an iconic Indian brand like Mahindra to further our mission of building mobility for a billion Indians. As part of the strategic alliance between the two companies, we have created a unique solution to help tens of thousands of aspiring driver-entrepreneurs realize their dreams. Our alliance with Mahindra will help build significant scale by innovatively building more mobility options and newer use cases in the time to come.”
Ola and Mahindra are also working on autonomous vehicles in the ride-hailing space and this looks like an exciting project because two giants coming together can make a huge impact to the whole Uber and Ola rivalry.
Does this deal seem to be because of Didi-Uber merger in China? Possibly. Ola is also looking for a fresh round of funding of about $500 million to take on Uber. A tie-up with Mahindra will help Ola create a name in the minds of a common man and simulate a symbiotic relationship.
