Mahindra First Choice Zooms into Franchise 100 List

A premier brand in the used-car industry in India, Mahindra First Choice (MFC) has entered the Franchise 100 list 2020 recently published by The Franchising World magazine. Aggressive franchise focus and franchise satisfaction enabled the brand to make it to the annual list of Top-100 franchise brands in India, which are assessed on over 45 parameters to identify the high growth and franchise-friendly opportunities across the sectors.

Launched in 1994, MFC is a multi-brand used-car retailer having a vast network of 1,000+ outlets in 450+ cities pan-India. With the largest network in multi-brand used-cars in the country, MFC sets itself apart by providing a complete 118-point check inspection report of every car to determine its condition. Certified cars are eligible for a MFC warranty. Moreover, dealers get access to the car auction portal where more than 1 lakh cars are traded every year.

“We are leveraging on technology to increase franchise satisfaction levels. Our dealers have access to machine learning tools to decide the right price of every used-car they upload on the platform. We have also recently purchased e-commerce company Fifth Gear Ventures, which will enable us to become India’s largest hyper-local integrated content and commerce platform for automobiles,” shared Ashutosh Pandey, CEO, Mahindra First Choice.

The company is adding 10-15 franchise stores on a monthly basis and has aggressive plans to expand fourfold over the next four years. “We will be adding 5,000 network agents and expanding to 1,000+ locations in India. We intend to increase our market-share by 10% and build India’s largest online-offline network of stores in the used-car industry,” adds Pandey.

Franchise Model

Mahindra First Choice prefers partners who are already a part of the automotive industry in some capacity. Its franchise partners range from two-wheeler OEM dealerships, new car OEMs and unorganised used-car dealers willing to rebrand as an MFC dealer. The working capital of MFC dealerships starts from Rs 25 lakhs for an ‘Xpress’ outlet selling 5-6 cars a month requiring office and parking space of 600 and 1,000 sq. feet respectively. This goes up to Rs 70 lakhs for a ‘Superstore’ selling more than 40 cars a month with office and parking space of 2,000 and 5,000 sq. feet respectively. Margins earned by franchisees vary from 8-15% depending on the vehicle transacted, whereas ancillary revenues come in from financing, warranty and insurance allow dealerships to break even within 12-24 months.

Franchise 100

The Franchising World, India’s no.1 franchising magazine, identifies the Top-100 franchise brands and celebrates their achievements every year in its anniversary issue. The issue highlights the established and emerging Indian and global brands that are increasing their positioning in India along with the new-age brands that are lucrative and profitable, expanding fast and can act as a reference guide for budding entrepreneurs and investors across India.

Franchise 100 is the one-stop destination to know everything about the franchise industry and the leading brands, which investors and prospective franchisees can consider to start their entrepreneurship journey.