Shorter car ownership cycles, new car launches and rising aspirations give rise to unboxed cars

Listing of unboxed cars, i.e. owned for less than two years, are seeing an impressive growth on OLX, as per the second edition of the OLX Automobile Report.

As per the report, there is an 18% y-o-y growth in 2018 over 2017. While 1.1 lac unboxed cars were listed on OLX between January - August 2017, the listings jumped to 1.3 lakh between January-August 2018.

More impressively, buyer inquiries for such cars jumped 50% in 2018. While this is predominantly a metro trend at present, it is expected to play out in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in the coming months.

This growth trend is strongly evident in the premium cars category, which is expected to dominate the pre-owned automobile sales this festive season. Listings for premium brands such as Audi, BMW, and Mercedes Benz have grown 49% in 2018. SUVs outsell sedans, on the whole, showcasing the buyer's penchant towards having a bit of muscle on the road. Maruti, Honda and Mahindra are the top brands in the unboxed cars segment on OLX.

Delhi-ites lead the seller volume for unboxed cars in the premium cars category, with 30% share of all listings, while Mumbai-kars follow with 20% share. Chennai and Kolkata, with 8% and 5% share respectively of premium cars listings, are the next biggest markets.

The report also throws light on key growth drivers for unboxed cars. Frequent launches have increased the want for users to upgrade their vehicles more frequently, especially among those who yearn for better tech and newer features.

This is further accentuated by rising consumer aspirations, reflected in shortening car ownership cycles. For buyers, these unboxed cars offer a substantial 25%-30% discount on the market price of the same car model, which is a very attractive deal for the discerning Indian car buyer.

"Unboxed cars represent a fantastic opportunity for buyers to grab a car of their dreams at extremely attractive prices. Unboxed cars are ~30% cheaper than their new counterparts. This festive season, we expect the trend to further accelerate, and witness more unboxed cars entering the market," said VP of Auto Category, OLX India, Sunny Kataria.

"Pre-owned cars have always outsold the new cars, and with the increasing trend of unboxed cars, OLX can bring incredible value and savings for buyers. People are changing cars faster just like their smartphones and this lifestyle trend will give an impetus to the overall car market," added Kataria.

Auto is the largest category on OLX, generating 40% of all user visits on the platform. The high user interest in pre-owned cars drives upwards of 10 million monthly active users for the cars category alone.

The pre-owned car market presently stands at 3.8 million units annually and is projected to grow to over 7 million units by 2020. This growth will be underpinned by rapid urbanization, the iniquitousness of smartphones, changing consumer needs, and an ever-growing population of millennials.