Landmark Cars reported muted September Quarter 2023 numbers. Revenue from operations stood at Rs 771 crore down 10% YoY. The company offers a wide range of new passenger vehicles, from premium to luxury, electric vehicles as well as commercial vehicles. Their extensive brand portfolio represents nine OEMs across vehicle categories – from affordable hatchbacks to upscale SUVs, high-end electric sedans, and commercial vehicles. Mercedes-Benz, Jeep, Honda, Volkswagen, Renault, BYD, and Morris Garage are Landmark’s eight trusted partners for passenger cars and Ashok Leyland for commercial vehicles. The company’s service portfolio spans the entire ownership life cycle, encompassing new vehicle sales, third-party financing and insurance products, after sales service and spare parts, and pre-owned vehicle sales.
Ready for long runway for luxury cars in India
From a single Honda dealership to becoming the largest dealer for Mercedes-Benz over the past 25 years, Landmark Cars has come a long way. “We are not so good with frugal engineering”, said Sanjay Thakker, Promoter, Chairman and Managing Director at Landmark Cars. He further added, “We are unlikely to do small cars, two wheelers. We are unlikely to do small commercial vehicles, three-wheeler type of business. The reason we realize is that we are a premium retailer.” The luxury car segment has a penetration in India is just 1-2%. With such a long runway, Thakker is extremely positive on growth with both urban and rural India contribution. For the overall passenger car market, top eight cities contribute 20% of the total volumes. The next 100 cities give 32% and the remaining country gives 48%. The luxury car penetration is relatively very low. “Luxury penetration might be a 1%. I am rounding it off. Now there are pockets which are at 2%. Some are at half. Some are at 0.2”, said Thakker. So, India is a major market to enter for all major luxury car brands. Rising preference for top-end variants, higher disposable income and demographic shift toward youth will support higher sales of luxury cars in India. Landmark Cars has recently taken dealership for MG Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M).
Landmark goes for diversification, adds MG and M&M
Landmark cars contributed 16.4% of Mercedes-Benz sales in India for H1FY24. For Jeep, contribution stands at 24%, 5.5% for Honda and 9.6% of share of sales for Volkswagen in H1FY24. Even with this strong dealership contribution to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), Landmark Cars felt the need to add two more brands to its revenue mix. The company added M&M and MG Motors to its clientele list. But it was a strategic move for Landmark Cars.
Early 2023, Honda Motors stopped manufacturing diesel cars as BS 6 OBD 2 norms came into play. Honda stopped manufacturing Jazz and WRV which hit Landmark sales volumes. In the case of Jeep, volumes were impacted with discontinuation of Compass due to emission norms. In addition to this BYD consignments were not cleared and Mercedes-Benz witnessed supply issues. Speaking on new dealership additions, Thakker said, “We had to add some meaningful business to our portfolio which was not going to be impacted by one or the other event, and that’s where we got into two mainstream brands.” May be many more brands to be added in the near future.
