Ola to hire 10,000 people for its used car platform, eyes $2-bn GMV

Ola, India’s largest mobility platform, said it plans to hire 10,000 new people, as it eyes a market leadership position with $2-billion gross merchandise value (GMV) for its vehicle commerce platform Ola Cars over the next 12 months. Ola Cars has already sold 5,000 pre-owned cars in its first full month of operation, the fastest growth achieved in this category for a new entrant.

In the middle of the ongoing festive season, Ola Cars has started pre-owned vehicle sales in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. It will also expand to Chandigarh, Jaipur, Kolkata and Indore by end of this week, all through the Ola app, to provide customers with a reimagined vehicle commerce experience.

Over the next two months, Ola Cars will be operational in 30 cities and expand to 100 cities by next year. As a digital-first platform, Ola Cars said it offers a dramatically better ownership experience superior to that of new car ownership. It includes innovations such as doorstep test drive, 7 days no questions asked return of a purchased vehicle.

“With Ola Cars, we are redefining the entire car buying, ownership and resale experience,” said Arun Sirdeshmukh, CEO, Ola Cars. “Our ‘better than new’ buying experience is driving tremendous demand with over 5,000 cars already sold in our first full month of operation. We are rapidly expanding to 100 cities in the coming months and are adding 10,000 people across key areas including sales and service centers.”

As part of Ola Cars, Ola is also setting up service centres across the country to provide a dramatically better experience through advanced telematics, AI (artificial intelligence) and Vision-based systems. These ensure high-quality repair work and advanced robotic paint shops will provide paintwork that will match OEM factory finish, as well as the promise of genuine auto parts.

As part of its longer-term plans, Ola will open this platform up for new vehicles from other automotive brands as well. The firm said it would provide them a seamless, trusted platform with unprecedented reach and understanding of consumers and their mobility needs.

This month, Ola, announced Ola Cars, its new vehicle commerce platform that will provide vehicle purchase and ownership experience to consumers. The company had said the Ola Cars will begin with pre-owned and, over time, Ola will open it up for new vehicles from Ola Electric and other automotive brands.

The new developments come at a time when SoftBank-backed Ola's chief financial officer Swayam Saurabh and chief operating officer Gaurav Porwal are leaving the company. In an internal email sent to the employees recently, Ola chairman and group CEO Bhavish Aggarwal has said that over the last year Ola has re-architected its mobility business to be much more robust and structurally efficient, enabling strong growth and a rapid return to pre-Covid levels.

Read more: SoftBank-backed Ola's COO and CFO to exit firm amid its plans to go public

“Our vehicle commerce business, Ola Cars, has scaled up rapidly to become a large operation, and our Delivery and Financial Services businesses are at key inflection points,” said Aggarwal, in the letter. “As we look forward to Ola's next phase of growth, we are making some key updates to our organisation that will enable us to capture the opportunities that lie ahead.

Ola has new growth plans, including setting up a Rs 2,400-crore electric vehicle facility expected to become the world’s largest two-wheeler factory. Ola’s ride-hailing business is recovering after the coronavirus pandemic’s hurt and demand for its food business and financial services improves.