Leading Japanese car leasing firm’s India arm, Orix Auto Infrastructure, now brings a unique luxury sportscar experience option for its customers. The company has tied up with Delhi-based sportscar self-drive operator 'Rally Cars' to offer track-day experiences to customers in exotic sportscars, like Porsche’s 911 and Audi’s R8, at the Buddh International Circuit (BIC) in Greater Noida.
Christened MyChoize SuperCars, the experiment is Orix's effort in making its presence felt in the B2C area. This move will aid Orix in driving its nascent self-drive rental business, MyChoize, which commenced in April 2016.
Instead of the regular pricing structure, it is based on a bidding system and allows interested customers to bid from as low as ₹100, advancing in multiples of Rs 50. The first round of bidding goes live on MyChoize's website on April 29 and the company will plan more track-days and dates will be announced on its portal.
Customers get 30 minutes to drive around the BIC and the company intends to allow three cars in one day with participation of around 20 people.
According to Sandeep Gambhir, managing director and CEO, Orix Auto Infrastructure India, "Safety being of prime importance, drivers will also be assisted by professionals, to have a safe driving experience at the race track, which is also the reason why the company has kept away from offering these cars on a rent-and-drive basis."
The company has merged this initiative as part of its CSR activities - the money earned from customers is donated to charity.
The company, which eyes the ₹250 crore self-drive rental market in India, has scaled up to a designated fleet of 300 cars, infusing a capital of $6 million (₹38.5 crore) in one year. The regular cars on offer vary from the Swift to the Figo in the hatchback category, and from the Toyota Fortuner to the Mercedes-Benz E-class in the premium space.
With its current presence spanning nine major cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Jaipur, the company aims to enhance reach to 20 more cities in the next 18 months, by increasing its fleet size to 1,000 cars at an additional capex of $20 mn (₹128.5 crore).
