Ola Partners With Nissan India To Lease Cabs

Ola, India's most popular mobile app for personal transportation, today announced a first of its kind strategic partnership between Nissan Motor India Pvt Ltd and its wholly owned subsidiary Ola Fleet Technology Pvt Ltd. Ola had recently rolled out a first of its kind cab-leasing program for driver-partners for which cars will now be purchased from both Nissan and Datsun brands. More such partnerships with leading manufacturers shall be rolled out soon to enable Ola to add over 100,000 vehicles on its platform through its cab-leasing unit by end of 2016. This will create immense entrepreneurial opportunities for drivers, who can now take a cab on lease and work like entrepreneurs with Ola.

This partnership will also be the beginning of Ola's efforts towards future vehicle platforms and innovations in the shared mobility space. Ola's user base comprising of millions in India, can help bring about valuable insights on consumer mobility preferences in the country. These consumer insights would be used to develop customized vehicles for the shared economy, which will be procured under such partnerships.

Rahul Maroli, Vice President, Strategic Supply Initiatives at Ola said, "We are excited about our partnership with Nissan, which is growing as one of the preferred brands amongst cab drivers in the country. Through this partnership, Ola's subsidiary will make available best in class vehicles to Ola driver partners, creating employment and subsequently entrepreneurial opportunities for hundreds of thousands of them. We are excited about working with Nissan, known for its cutting edge technology and look forward to more such partnerships in the coming months, to creating mobility options customized for the Indian market."

Arun Malhotra, Managing Director, Nissan Motor India said, "The growth in the cab industry has been remarkable in the past couple of years in India and Ola, has revolutionized this space, impacting millions of customers and driver partners. Nissan has a strong presence in the fleet segment globally and in India, we see great potential. Our flagship models from both Nissan and Datsun brands are well equipped to cater to the fleet segment offering the much sought after features like space and fuel efficiency. We expect this partnership to further contribute to the growing personal transportation ecosystem in India."

Ola driver-partners who have enrolled themselves for the leasing program hailed the partnership. Mahesh C, who has been a driver on the Ola platform for over a year, says he would be keen on taking a Nissan car on lease and hopes to become the owner of the car in the next few years.

About the leasing program:

Under the cab-leasing program, Ola's subsidiary will enable flexibility for drivers to lease a car for a minimal initial deposit and monthly lease rentals that will also include routine maintenance of the vehicle, as against high down payments and monthly instalments for a loan. This gives drivers the flexibility of not having to seek any loan or financing of their own and an opportunity to become the owner of the car after a period of 3 years, while giving them instant access to a stable income on the Ola platform.

This program from Ola is seeing keen interest from leading financing and manufacturer partners and is poised to enhance employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for a large segment of drivers across the country.