Calcutta, March 15: Bangalore-based Zoomcar is planning to sell its own fleet of cars over the next one year and instead ramp up its business as a marketplace for self-driven car rentals.

"Within the next six to 12 months, we are planning to sell off our entire fleet of company-owned cars and will be banking on the Zoomcar associate programme (Zap) to grow our business," Greg Moran, CEO and co-founder of Zoomcar, said at the launch of Zap in Calcutta today.

According to Moran, it is not advantageous to own a car which is more than two-years old.

Under the Zap model, people can buy a car with Zoomcar's collaboration so that the owner can register for the black number plate (used only in a self-driven rental car). The car can then be offered for rental for self-drive. Hence, instead of keeping the car idle, the rental start-up allows the buyer to earn from the rental, helping one to ease the burden of EMIs.

However, neither will the company offer any direct financial support to buy the car nor will it give any minimum guaranteed return.

Zoomcar is now present in 17 cities across the country and has over 3,000 cars listed on its platform of which the company owns more than 2,000 units. It will ramp up its fleet to 10,000 with the marketplace model, branded as Zap, along with a presence in 30 cities by June.

Zoomcar will also begin operations in Guwahati in the next one month.

"With the Zap model, we aim to increase the cars under the marketplace model to 80 per cent by December this year," he said. At present, the company owns 80 per cent of the cars.

The four-year old start-up has also come up with the Zap app that will provide the car owner information about the car's handling by a customer. Sensors are installed in the cars to track real time data on the fuel level, harsh braking and inconsistent acceleration .

Having raised $50 million from investors, the company is not looking to raise more funds.