Automovill a formidable option for car owners and dealerships: CEO Mridu Mahendra Das

With the exit of Ford and the possible closure of a significant amount of dealerships car owners will have Automovill as a formidable option to avail the required service, says Mridu Mahendra Das, Co-Founder and CEO of Automovill. He said Automovill has survived in-spite of having multiple competitors in the past.

The Indian market has been hit hard by the closure and announcements of closures of foreign automobile companies such as Ford (recently). What are your views?

Automovill is primarily focussed on after sales service and this setbacks work more like an opportunity for Automovill. With exit of Ford and possible closure of significant amount of dealerships car owners will have Automovill as a formidable option to avail the required service. Automovill’s pan-India network and access to suppliers will have more opportunities to serve the customers and increase the trust on Automovill. However, it’s definitely a deterrent for new brands to enter the Indian automobile market.

How can India retain automobile companies? What role can the government play?

For the Indian government and the interest of auto enthusiasts, new brands and retaining existing brands are very important. What we believe that new entrants get good govt support as it creates jobs, boosts investment and also allows govt to facilitate the inflow of new tech/businesses in the country. Indian govt can always help automobile companies to enable the launch of new brands by allowing ease of import duties on certain products which are not locally manufactured or can’t be sourced locally. Govt can encourage localization of spares manufacturing by easing the norms of starting such businesses, easing existing curbs on vehicle size/engine sizes for launching into India. Promoting sports and adventure activities in the Indian auto segment (e.g. Formula 1 circuit, allowing foreign brands to hold rallies), govt sponsored Auto exhibition and programs etc. Alternately govt can also enforce security and safety features are only available in certain foreign brands and give tax breaks for vehicles having added safety features for its passengers. Being a mileage-sensitive country easing out the taxation on fuels and allowing alternate fuels to be used can help foreign brands launch their products in India as well.

The Indian government has been promoting Aatmanirbhar Bharat for the automobile industry as well. Is this attractive for local companies?

Atmanirbhar Bharat is definitely a booster to Indian automotive industry as a whole. Its effect can mostly be seen in the EV space and equipment manufacturers. However, launching new homegrown IC-based vehicle models may not be a reality as yet. Also, new vehicle brand launch is a capital-intensive process. However, existing Indian brands can definitely leverage such initiatives e.g. TATA’s recent announcement on semiconductor units for the automotive sector. However stringent approval process by ARAI and other such authorities does generally deter new vehicle manufacturing and launch. Historically new vehicle brands are capital intensive. Still in EV segment which requires less upfront investment and a conglomerate of small manufacturers for different segments/parts of EV can be cracked and new models can be launched.

Does the moving out of foreign automobile companies mean more sales for local and domestic companies in terms of after-sales services?

Definitely for local after-sales ecosystem will get boost because of exodus of foreign brands. The main reason being the closure of existing dealerships, unavailability of OEM spares and overall distrust on such brands by vehicle owners.

What strategies and techniques has Automovill adopted to stay a step ahead from its competitors?

Automovill has survived in-spite of having multiple competitors in the past. Also post covid consolidation gave Automovill further edge as many of the pre-covid players have shut shop. When it comes to strategy Automovill focused on two things mainly sustainability and profitability. Automovill changed the tide of its focus based on the market demand and change in the ecosystem. Pre-Covid B2C and ride sharing (UBER) was primary focus and it indeed helped Automovill grow its footsteps and revenue, while post covid Automovill rode on the wave of used car sales to maintain growth and achieve profitability. Overall hub and spoke model and higher unit economics helped Automovill establish itself and make the company stronger in-spite of heavy competitions.

What challenges has Automovill faced along the way?

Like any other start-up Automovill had its share of challenges and Covid was the peak of the challenge to overcome. To start with Automovill started in early 2016, when the concept was fairly new and changing the mindset of car owners to multi-brand and that too through a platform was hard to crack. Then comes the funding for expansion as the idea is hard to get node from marquee investors and this was largely overcome by NEDFi support. In the business model itself Automovill had to go with multiple iteration and finally arrived at hub-Spoke model which made it a sustainable model and stronger entity in the after sales market.

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Covid is a unique and first of its kind in the world and Automovill has been impacted as well by Covid. However during the lockdown itself Automovill ensured the work continuity where we did sanitisation and other such activities which made Automovill revenue running. Sanitisation during Covid also helped Automovill establish its brand and we ended up giving some income to semi-skilled auto workers through sanitisation. Post Covid Automovill focussed on used car market to overcome the low revenue challenge from B2C and expand to 15 cities. There are many smaller challenges which we faced along our way and we believe every challenge made us stronger and better to establish Automovill as one of the front line companies in after sales ecosystem.

What is the company’s outlook?

Automovill will continue to boost its revenue and growth story in coming months with its current B2B and B2C revenue streams. However at the same time Automovill is building a comprehensive platform for technicians/garages to boost their learning/earning and enhance their digital footprint to attract more options for revenue and upskilling. Automovill is focusing to be become the key provider for insurance claims as well through the network of insurance agents and digitizing the entire process of handling insurance claim to fulfilling the repair process.