Virtual pre-owned cars showroom Carzso.com on Tuesday said it has re-launched its exclusive virtual reality (VR)-based experience store in Karnal, which is the first-of-its-kind facility in the country.
The auto tech start-up is building the country’s first superstore of pre-owned cars in Gurgaon, for which parking of over 300 cars has already been reserved. The company said it plans to launch more such experience centres this year to expand its presence in the non-metro cities, which continue to be its focus. Spread around 500 sq ft with a capacity of 25 cars, the showroom is the first by an autotech start-up, the company said in a statement.
The global VR market in the automotive industry currently stands at USD 1 billion and is projected to grow to up to USD 15 billion by 2027 at a compound annual growth rate of 45.1 per cent, according to the company. At the same time, according to industry estimates, non-metro cities contributed as much as 55 per cent in the total used car sales in India in the previous financial year, which is expected to grow to 70 per cent by FY2025, it said.
The demand is majorly driven by affordability, availability, and the growing need for personal mobility, the company said. It added that considering the surge in demand, CarzSo.com had earlier entered into a strategic tie-up to improve its virtual platform that is capable of tapping the non-metro cities. Carzso.com founder CEO Vaibhav Sharma, “Consumer behaviour and aspirations have undergone a significant change due to digitisation, pandemic, shorter-ownership periods and easy financing options.”
He added that be it the need for safer mobility options, the online presence of pre-owned cars or faster replacement cycles the consumers are finding pre-owned cars much more convenient and affordable. “Karnal is an important city for us, considering its proximity to rural and tier-III cities,” Sharma said. He also said the company is aggressively working on bringing VR technology into the domestic automobile industry, which could be a game-changer in taking the industry online.
In a conventional set-up, there’s a limit to how far the customer is willing to travel to view, shortlist and buy a used car, Sharma added. The use of VR will make it easier for the customer to view more products in the same amount of time, he said adding that “we will also delve into the utilisation of Metaverse for further augmenting the auto industry”. In 2020, Carzso.com opened an exclusive express store with a capacity of over 50 cars in Ambala, with proximity to rural and tier-III cities, according to the statement.
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