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When I started working on the Carro-Carsome story, I saw the two companies as archrivals vying for pole position. While that may be true, there’s far more to the used-car industry than meets the eye.
Carro and Carsome started at a time when trust in their industry was shaky at best. Today, they are forging a path marked with tech-powered innovations to build this trust.
And unless there’s big news, these companies rarely make as many headlines as their ecommerce counterparts do. They really should, though, considering how these companies have standardized buying cars, which can be an incredibly emotional call.
I always suspected that demand for certain types of cars was influenced by geography. Carro’s chief financial officer, Ernest Chew, confirmed it was. Generally speaking, Indonesia is a multipurpose vehicle (MPV) market, and while pickup trucks do well in Thailand, Singapore is mostly about SUVs and sedans.
When Chew spoke to me about customers “kicking tires” to get a feel of the car or browsing for vehicles at 2 am and then shying away from the purchase, it was like he was describing me. That’s where the financing plans that the two companies offer come in, making cautious customers like me take a leap into the world of parallel parking.
Carsome’s launch of the Carsome Academy for Malaysian youth also seems like an interesting way to grow. The institute offers “industry-oriented training programs,” says Eric Cheng, the company’s co-founder and group CEO. Business aside, helping build a skilled automotive workforce will make the system healthier inside and out.
My bet’s on companies who know their business and their customers, while working toward leaving the industry better than they found it. What about you?
— Nikita Putri, journalist at Tech in Asia
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