too says bhargava carpooling may not yet be the favourite option for cityslickers but increasing congestion and pollution will make it a necessity sooner rather than later this will bring down cost of transportation sub stantially and result in a faster shift from nonmotorisation to motorisation and from twowheelers to cars says rajan wadhera president automotive mm which has a tieup with ola some 40000 mahindra cars will be sold to ola over two years maruti suzuki sold over 90000 cars to cab aggregators between april and march 2017 accounting for nearly 10 of its retail sales hyundai the second largest carmaker sold over 30000 cars to cab aggregators in 2016 and expects a 200 growth in 2017 we need to coexist cab aggregators have emerged as the new customer segment for original equipment manufacturer as it has helped bring scale increase capacity utilisation and bandwidth for entry and mid variants says rakesh srivastava director sales marketing hyundai motor india aggregating profits carmakers are customising and branding vehicles differently from those meant for the aspirational buyer for instance hyundais grand i10 and xcent are branded as the prime series for cab firms when toyota launched the etios and liva platinum series for the individual customer the older variant with base frills was sold to aggregators as product cycles shrink ridesharing firms are helping carmakers sell more in a shorter span of time its also nudging them to quicken the pace of development points out srivastava for hyundai cab firms account for 8 of retail sales which could double in two years the korean carmaker has created a standalone vertical to address product and distribution service requirements of aggregators says srivastava industry experts say uber and ola have initiated a change in behaviour patterns of consumers they have improved service levels to such an extent that for a few consumers car ownership is not aspirational any more says wadhera president automotive sector mm uber would readily agree to that observation we want to use technology to help put more people in fewer cars and utilise existing assets on the road better to transform urban mobility options in our cities says an uber india spokesperson we are partnering with auto manufacturers and dealers across cities to offer a range of options that help existing and potential drivers on the uber platform get access to vehicles of their choice like in any b2b business pricing power will wane as the segment matures differentiation then will be more on services rather than product alone the power of this segment will be the ability to compete on volumes as competitive pressures intensify this segment will be dominated by fewer players says wadhera more than price accessibility and ontime availability have made ridesharing an urban habit however to gain market share aggregators have resorted to aggressive pricing of fares this will make the path to profits longer for this venture capitalfunded firms once funding channels dry up fares are bound to increase and driver incentives