Carmakers' ride on taxi aggregators gains momentum

Volume of 60,000 units is significantly higher than the 48,000 vehicles sold to aggregators in FY16

When Maruti Suzuki Chairman R C Bhargava said last month that cab aggregators, such as Ola and Uber, will be the company’s “biggest” customer, he was probably aware of the growing sales volumes generating from this segment. The country’s biggest carmaker sold about 60,000 vehicles to these aggregators in the nine months ended December 2016, growing 67 per cent over the year-ago period.

The volume of 60,000 units is also significantly higher than the 48,000 vehicles sold to aggregators in the entire FY16. No wonder then that the company is warming up to these buyers. Recently, the company offered to