TVS Automobile Solutions may partner used-car companies; plans expansion

TVS Automobile Solutions had launched its new subsidiary Ki Mobility Solution (an online to offline digital platform) in November 2020

After the recent acquisition of Mahindra First Choice (MFC), India’s largest automotive aftermarket player TVS Automobile Solutions (TVS ASPL) is looking to rope in second car platforms, such as Mahindra First Choice Wheels, Spinny, Cars24, CarWale and CarDekho, for strategic business tie-ups, and integrate them with the company’s digital platform KiMobility.

As part of its after-market expansion drive under KiMobility, the company is planning to expand to overseas markets like the United Kingdom. The Chennai-based company has said that it is already in talks with a couple of players in the used-car business. TVS ASPL is part of the $8.5 billion TVS Group.

TVS Automobile Solutions had created its new subsidiary Ki Mobility Solution (an online to offline digital platform) in November 2020. Later, the new entity raised ~85 crore from investors such as Pratithi Investment Trust (represented by its trustee and Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan) and SeaLink Capital Partners (SCP). Through KiMobility, TVS ASL is looking to capture a larger market share in the $10-billion automotive after-market, which is largely unorganised through the presence of about 500,000 garages, by playing the role of an aggregator.

“We are talking to a couple of used car platforms for strategic partnerships. If any of our customers wants to sell their car, they can sell it through their platform and the buyer can come to us for service. But we will not get into the used car business. Our objective is to partner with these platforms that can use our infrastructure and technology,” said G Srinivasa Raghavan, managing director, TVS Automobile Solutions.

At present, KiMobility is present in 12 cities and has set a target of expanding to 140 cities across the country by March 2022. It also has plans to expand the customer base from 3 million now to 5.5 million by 2022 and 10 million by 2023.

“We want to be one of the dominant and profitable platforms for the aftermarket. Today, we are at ~573 crore and the business is expected to reach over ~3,000 crore by FY23. KiMobility is already a profitable platform,” Raghavan told Business Standard.

The aggregator platform would give automobile entrepreneurs in increasing their business, access to high-quality parts and supplier ecosystem. Interestingly, the platform is providing digital diagnostics for over 45 models of vehicles. Raghavan added that the pandemic has not affected KiMobility and it is adding about 50,000 consumers per month, as compared to 12,000 a month pre-Covid under MyTVS.