Ola launches subscription and pilot luxury vehicle services in Mumbai
Indian ride-hailing app, Ola, is trialling a new service called “Ola Lux”, a luxury offering thus far only available in Mumbai. The luxury fleet will offer vehicles from Mercedes, Audi, BMW, and Honda, with all vehicles enhanced with Wifi and live tracking. The firm has also announced the launch of a subscription-based service called Ola Exclusive, which will allow quarterly, monthly and weekly billing cycles, as part of its attempt to win customer loyalty as Uber continues to grow in India.

Bengaluru: Ride hailing service Ola (ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd) is likely to launch a subscription-based service in an attempt to win customer loyalty at a time when rival Uber Inc is turning the heat on the homegrown unicorn.

The new service, called Ola Exclusive, will allow consumers to avail post-paid billing services, better availability of cabs and free Wi-Fi on all cabs---initiatives which are likely to build consumer loyalty which often depends on fare, news website Tech In Asia reported on Monday.

Ola did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

According to the report, the service will allow quarterly, monthly and weekly billing cycles.

Ola, a homegrown unicorn start-up valued at $5 billion and Uber, the world’s most valuable start-up at $62 billion are fighting for dominance in the Indian cab industry, which is poised to grow to $7 billion, according to SoftBank.

This is not the first attempt by Ola to win a loyal consumer base through value-added services. In August last year, the company had launched Ola Select, under which the company promised select users sedan cabs on the Ola platform at the cost of a Mini.

However, unlike Exclusive, which entails monetary transaction, Select did not entail any upfront payment but only the promise of a premium service at lower price.