Landmark Cars is India’s first publicly listed, multi-brand automobile retailer, built on a simple but unusual idea: that selling cars should be run by professional managers, not just the family that started the business. Founded in 1998 with a single Honda showroom in Ahmedabad, it has grown over 27 years into a network of 140 outlets across 12 states, serving more than 550,000 customers. The recurring approach is to be the “partner of choice” for fast-growing car brands - especially in premium and luxury - and to run an asset-light, capital-efficient model where the high-margin after-sales business funds the expansion of the vehicle-sales engine. # Business segments Three engines that feed each other - a vehicle-sales engine that builds the customer base, an after-sales engine that generates the profits, and a pre-owned engine that recycles both cars and loyalty - all run on the same dealership network. ## 1. New vehicle sales: the customer-acquisition engine **Selling new cars is a thin-margin, high-volume business whose real job is to create a captive population of vehicles that will need servicing for years.** - **Paid per car, not per deal** - the company earns a margin between what it pays the carmaker and what the customer pays, except for Mercedes-Benz where it earns a fixed commission under an agency model where the manufacturer sells directly. Because roughly three-quarters of Indian car buyers take financing and nine in ten buy insurance at the dealership, commissions on those add-ons are a material second revenue stream. - **Ten brands, four leadership positions** - Landmark is the number-one retail partner in India by sales volume for Mercedes-Benz (16.8% share), BYD (21.0%), Honda (6.1%), and Jeep & Citroën (18.7% for Jeep), and number two for Volkswagen (8.9%). Each brand is run by a dedicated CEO, so performance is tracked at both the brand and the individual showroom level. - **Electric vehicles are already a fifth of sales** - EVs contributed over 21% of new-car revenue in FY26, compared to roughly 5% penetration in India’s overall passenger-car market, driven by partnerships with BYD, Mahindra, and MG. Landmark is BYD’s largest retail and service partner in India, with eight outlets as of December 2025. - **Showrooms are clustered, not scattered** - the company co-locates brand showrooms - Jeep next to Renault, BYD next to Jeep - so that manpower and fixed costs are shared across brands in the same geography. Underperforming locations are cut: six Renault facilities in Punjab were closed in FY24, Jeep operations in Punjab were sold in April 2025, and the Volkswagen Delhi business ceased in March 2026. - **Inventory is held deliberately** - the company keeps 36 days of vehicle inventory, above the industry average of 28 days, a conscious choice to lock in prices before manufacturer increases and to protect against supply-chain disruption. Historically it ran leaner than the industry, holding 35-45 days when peers held 55-65. ## 2. After-sales service and car care: the profit engine **Servicing cars is a high-margin, non-cyclical business that crossed ₹1,000 crore in annual revenue - and it earns nearly twice the return on capital of a typical industrial company.** - **Every service visit is a revenue event** - the average revenue per vehicle serviced reached ₹27,148 in FY26, rising to over ₹30,000 in the final quarter, up from ₹23,444 three years earlier. The company serviced 387,075 vehicles during the year. - **Structurally more profitable than selling cars** - the after-sales business reported a gross margin of 41.2%, an EBITDA margin of 18.1%, and a return on capital employed of 29.8% in FY26. That margin profile has been stable for years, making it the counterweight to the cyclicality of new-vehicle sales. - **Exclusive products create pricing power** - Landmark holds the exclusive India distribution rights for Permagard Automotive (USA) and MotorOne Car Care (Australia), and sells accessories under its own white-label brand “Landmark Genuine Accessories”. These are not commodities; the company sets the price. - **The car park feeds the workshop** - every new vehicle sold becomes a captive service customer for years, so partnering with high-demand brands in a geography means the service bays have a ready population of cars from day one, helping new workshops reach profitability faster. Customers book appointments and track maintenance through a website and app. ## 3. Pre-owned vehicles: the loyalty loop **A newer, smaller engine that buys cars back from its own customers, refurbishes them in its own workshops, and sells them with a warranty - recycling both vehicles and customer relationships.** - **Acquired at the lowest cost** - the company sources used cars at its own showrooms and workshops, so there is no middleman or auction fee, then refurbishes them using its own technicians. The same sales team that sells new cars also sells the pre-owned ones, so the incremental fixed cost is minimal. - **Sold with a promise, not just a price** - every pre-owned car comes with a warranty, a service package, insurance, and a future buy-back guarantee, which turns a one-time transaction into an ongoing relationship. The business uses an AI-based evaluation platform and data-backed pricing to set prices. - **A market larger than new cars** - India’s pre-owned car market is estimated at roughly 1.4 times the size of the new-car market and is projected to grow at about 17.6% annually through 2030. In its first year, the business sold 1,163 cars at an average price of ₹9.83 lakh. # Group structure and partners **A parent company with a subsidiary for nearly every car brand, plus a shared-services arm that consolidates back-office work - the structure mirrors the multi-brand strategy.** - **One brand, one subsidiary** - Landmark Cars Limited is the listed parent, and each major OEM relationship sits in a separate wholly owned subsidiary: Landmark Automobiles for Honda, Benchmark Motors for Renault, Automark Motors for Volkswagen, Watermark Cars for BYD, Aeromark Cars for MG, Landmark Mobility for Mahindra, Landmark Premium Cars for Kia, and others. This keeps brand economics clean and makes it easier to add or exit a partnership. - **Shared services cut duplication** - a dedicated subsidiary consolidates back-end functions - HR, finance, logistics, insurance, and customer support - across all brands, so the brand-level companies focus on sales and service rather than running payroll. - **The promoter family is still at the helm** - Sanjay Thakker, who founded the business in 1998, serves as Chairman and Executive Director; his son Aryaman Thakker, educated at Warwick and formerly with Autonation in the US, is an Executive Director and dealer principal for MG and Mercedes-Benz operations. - **A small bet on the platform economy** - the company holds a minority stake (not exceeding 20%) in Sheerdrive Private Limited, an automobile platform that provides auction, financing, and insurance services, acquired in January 2023.