Motorist, a comprehensive automotive service platform from Singapore, targets triple growth in revenue in the Thai market next year, mainly driven by consumer-to-business (C2B) vehicle auctions.
The service had a soft launch in January this year and the company is now gearing up to expand its business in Thailand, where it is estimated that between 140,000 and 200,000 vehicle ownership transfers per month are carried out.
Motorist started its operations in Singapore in 2015, followed by Malaysia three years later.
Damian Sia, chief executive of Motorist, said the company aims to launch its service in Vietnam and the Philippines next year.
The company wants to develop a business foothold in 12 markets in the region by 2026 and become the largest automotive super app in Asean.
"Thailand is a market that's closer to us, with a huge number of vehicles in it," said Mr Sia.
There are 20 times as many vehicles in Thailand as there are in Singapore.
The total number of vehicle transfers in Singapore ranges from 7,000 and 10,000 cars per month. Motorist has about 5% of the total car transfer market there, he said.
Since its establishment, the company has achieved 25 billion baht in gross merchandise value (GMV) in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.
"Motorist is the top car auction platform in the Singapore market with the number of app users reaching 181,000 since March 2019, accounting for 10% of total car owners," said Mr Sia.
The platform expects to increase its revenue growth in Thailand by 300% next year, 85% of which will be contributed by its C2B auction business, which is similar to the ratio in Singapore, he said.
Motorist completed the first phase of its plan in Thailand, with services including C2B auctions, which involves three steps in the sale of a car: submission of the car's details; the provision of a valuation within 24 hours; and the arrangement for a viewing of the vehicle.
The second phase of services is projected to start in December. Mr Sia said these include a mobile app, vehicle insurance and consumer-to-consumer sales.
The third phase is expected to launch in 2024 with additional services, including vehicle maintenance and new car sales.
Thanyalak Khamkamphon, general manager of Motorist Thailand, said the firm, which has 13 employees in the country, has partnerships with about 400 local used car dealers. The platform generated 393 million baht in GMV in the Thai market this year.
"Motorist aims to onboard 1% of the country's vehicles on its super app by 2023", she said.
