There is much opportunities for the app to grow and expand to other countries across South-East Asia, deputy minister says

by LYDIA NATHAN / pic credit: mycarasia.com

HOME-GROWN MyCar has launched its newest version of the application, MyCar3.0, in an attempt to regain market share prior to the pandemic.

Its founder Mohd Noah Maideen said it held 30% of the market share before this, but had faced some disruptions with its previous developer and is now looking at capitalising on the gig economy.

The second version was known as MyCar2.0 SuperApps, which was launched in August last year.

“MyCar is the second biggest contender after Grab and we aim to become the largest in Malaysia.

“The updated app has many new features and our driver-partners are ready to begin tomorrow,” he said to reporters at the launch in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

According to Mohd Noah, there are currently about 145,000 driver-partners and the service targets to achieve about 10,000 rides daily for the first month.

“We looked at the shortcomings of the previous version and have fixed it accordingly.

“Our new system can sustain 60,000 rides per day and we will be working towards this,” he said.

He added that all the changes and updates were done in-house and the service will be looking at starting off in the Klang Valley before expanding to other locations.

Driver-partners will not have any commission taken from them in the next two to three weeks.

Mohd Noah said as part of its strategies to increase market share, the service will be branching out into other segments of the market.

“We will be launching MyMakan, a food delivery service in June this year which we hope will be well received.

“And then towards the end of the year, we will look into logistics and delivery services. For these segments, we will allow motorcycle riders,” he said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Ahmad Amzad Hashim who was present at the launch said he had high hopes for the app to grow and expand to other countries across South-East Asia.

He said there was much potential for the app and despite the Covid-19 pandemic impacting many industries, e-hailing and delivery services have gained momentum.

Additionally, speaking on the vaccines, Ahmad Amzad said Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) has assured the government there will be no electricity cuts or disruptions at vaccine storage centres nationwide.

He said backup generators are in place and no technical issues are expected to be of concern.

“TNB has given us a guarantee that issues will not arise. However, there will be staff on hand at the vaccination centres should anything happen,” he noted.