Mahindra First Choice eyes 35% growth

Mahindra First Choice Wheels Ltd (MFCWL) that opened its 200th outlet on Wednesday at Ahmedabad, is eying around 35 per cent growth this year. It aims to end the financial year by selling around 46,000 cars and claimed that the slowdown in the new car market has not impacted sales of organised used car sellers.

Rajeev Dubey, president, group HR, corporate services and after-market, Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) said that the size of the used car market is larger than the new car market, and is roughly around 1.1 times that of the new car market. "In the US, this ratio is 3:1 in favour of used cars, hence there is huge potential for growth in the used car space in India", he said.

MFCWL had sold 34,000 cars last year, and plans to sell around 46,000 cars this fiscal. It also plans to take the outlet count to 260 by the end of the financial year.

Organised players comprise nearly 13 per cent of the used car market, Dubey said, adding that the rate of growth among this segment is higher compared to the unorganised sector. The organised used car market is dominated by exchange programmes of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and multi-brand outlets have a small share at present.

As for Gujarat, MFCWL currently has seven outlets, with four in Ahmedabad, and remaining at Vapi, Mehsana and Bhuj. It is planning to take the number to 12 by the end of the fiscal. Yatendra Chadha, vice president, operations and network, MFCWL said, "We are looking at opening outlets at Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Anand and Gandhidham."

Around 15,000 new cars sell in Gujarat per month, and a similar number of used cars also sell, said Chadha. The overall used cars market in India is around 3 million cars per year.