Why car rental company Myles is considering expansion after COVID-19

Founded in 2013, Myles is an Indian driverless car rental services company that is experiencing rapid growth in the automotive industry. With operations in 21 cities across the country, Myles offers service subscriptions and car rentals to its customers.

Speaking of how Myles handles the holiday season, Sakshi Vij, Founder, Myles, says domestic travel has increased dramatically as COVID-19 restrictions have eased and customers have started taking cars and traveling to their destinations.

“In terms of numbers, we have seen an increase of almost 100% as the holiday season is also associated with the opening of many restrictions after COVID-19,” she said. Your story Daily shipping. The numbers have also increased on the subscription side.

She explains that the automotive industry has faced two types of challenges over the past year. The first was foreclosure, which was a big challenge for the industry, but as markets opened up it saw a significant increase in subscriptions.

“The number of electric vehicles now available on the market has increased by more than 40%,” says

Sakshi. Apart from that, another trend that was noticed was the used car subscription boom.

Speaking of the key pillars of growth, Sakshi says Myles has already partnered with a large number of original equipment manufacturers. (OEM) such as Maruti Suzuki, Toyota and MG Motors, and they provide subscriptions to all of their customers. The company intends to launch at least five more OEMs over the next year.

She adds that they are seeing a huge increase in the used car and electric vehicle segment. “Today, we have nearly 2,000 vehicles on our platform. We believe that next year’s growth over the next five years will be multi-faceted, ”she said. Turnover has almost quadrupled between the past two years. Myles hopes to have at least 10,000 cars on their platform over the next 18 months.

Sakshi says Myles is currently operating in the self-driving segment in about 21 cities and they have received great demand from Tier I cities. They are planning to expand their subscription business to places like Jaipur, Kanpur, Indore and Lucknow.

Commenting on the fundraising scenario, she says Myles was initially self-funded, then funded by angel investors. Due to aggressive expansion plans, the company may be looking at fundraising opportunities next year. “Our numbers are kind of opening up now, the markets are really great and we’re getting a lot of investor interest as well,” Sakshi said.

Finally, she says Myles is exploring the possibility of introducing smaller segment vehicles such as two-wheelers and also serving the subscription-based last mile delivery segment. “We are exploring it, not yet launching but hopefully in Q2 2022,” Sakshi said.