Hype Luxury Mobility Rentals, India’s first and premier luxury car rental brand has now expanded its services to cater to the fast-growing niche market. It had grown to serve 19 cities across India over the recent months, covering, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Delhi NCR, Goa, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kolkata, Mangalore, Mumbai, Madurai and Pondicherry. In 2017, when Hype first started its operations, it had launched the services across seven cities in the country. Today, it is growing at a 300-400 percent month-on-month and strives to provide the best customer experience.
After successfully traversing the metros and Tier I cities in India, Hype is now focussing on Tier II cities and looks forward to serving Lucknow, Kanpur, Ranchi and Baroda markets also in the year 2021. With the business is picking up rapidly, the organisation is eyeing 300% growth in the fiscal year 2024.
Talking about the organisation’s expansion plans, Raghav Belavadi, Founder and CEO, HYPE Luxury Mobility, said, “Since August 2000, there has been a sudden spike, which is four to five times increase in the number of tourists renting our luxury cars. The demand from different regions in India, drove us to expand our operations in other cities as well.” He also added, “With the unlocking we have seen a significant increase in the demand for renting our luxury cars for weekend getaways with families and friends, and expect the trend to continue.”
Recently, Hype added 1,000 luxury cars and now has a fleet size of more than 14,000 with over 6,000 luxury and 8,000 premium cars. There has been an increase of 3-4 times in bookings, which has led the organisation to double its fleet size. Hype runs on an aggregator model, working with dealers and manufacturers. In the luxury car renting, people prefer self-drive to chauffeur driven with the ratio 60:40. The top preferences in Bangalore is Mercedes Benz, followed by BMW, which is the general trend in South India and Mumbai as well. In North and East India, the demand for renting Audi is high.
Car rentals are certainly more sustainable as they are more environmentally friendly than owned vehicles. People’s preference for experiential luxury by renting is also on the rise. Moreover, the tech-enabled platforms with GPS, telematics and security systems providing enhanced navigation and safety features are appealing to today’s customer. Rise of international tourism, exposure to luxury services, increase in smartphone penetration, higher disposable incomes and better road infrastructure are some of the growth drivers in the luxury mobility rental market.