Used car marketplace Cars24 acquires auto forum Team-BHP

Used car marketplace Cars24 acquires auto forum Team-BHP

Used car marketplace startup Cars24 on April 23 announced that it has acquired India’s largest automotive forum Team-BHP.

Team-BHP is one of India’s most popular online communities and forums dedicated to automobiles and automotive enthusiasts. Launched in 2004, it serves as a hub for detailed discussions, reviews, and user experiences related to cars, bikes, road trips, modifications, maintenance, and more.

“Team-BHP is not just a forum, it’s an institution,” said Vikram Chopra, Founder and CEO of Cars24. “As a brand that is equally obsessed with solving real problems for car and bike owners, we see this as a long-term investment in empowering India’s auto ecosystem with sharper conversations, richer insights and deeper trust.”

Post-acquisition, the forum will continue to operate independently by its founding team, with the same zero-sponsored content policy, strict moderation, and community-first approach that has earned it unmatched credibility and respect, Cars24 said in a statement.

“Team-BHP has always been built on one thing—an uncompromising love for cars, and the honesty that love demands,” said Rush Parekh, founder of Team-BHP. “With CARS24 backing us, and their technology and data layered into our platform, we can now build with more scale, more depth, and more intent,” he added.

As part of the move, Cars24 will work with Team-BHP to improve platform capabilities, enhance the user experience and bring in new features that help members make more informed decisions.

“Cars24's involvement is focused on strengthening Team-BHP's product, technology and AI capabilities to improve the experience of its readers and community members,” the company said.

The move is part of a broader trend of used car marketplaces acquiring automotive content platforms. Value drive Technologies, the parent company of used car marketplace unicorn Spinny, recently acquired Haymarket SAC’s automotive titles in India, including brands like Autocar India, Autocar Professional, and What Car? India.

Similarly, CarDekho, a platform to buy and sell cars and related services, also acquired automotive Youtube channel PowerDrift back in 2018 – though CarDekho is no longer a direct competitor of Cars24 after it shut down its used car retail business due to operational challenges last year.

This comes at a time when companies operating in India’s organised used car market, including online marketplaces such as Spinny, and Cars24, have faced challenges in scaling over the past few years, partly due to the stiff competition from the fragmented unorganised markets.

While CarDekho has exited the space, players like Cars24 and Spinny have been looking at alternative ways to grow revenue streams and add more services, Moneycontrol reported earlier.

Cars24 recently forayed into the new car market by launching an aggregator platform for dealerships and OEMs, as part of its ongoing strategy to consolidate the car buying process under a single super app.

In FY23, a total of 51 lakh used cars were sold in India and the industry was worth $34 billion. From there, the sector is expected to grow to $73 billion and sell 1.09 crore used cars by FY28, according to the latest Indian Blue Book (IBB) report by 'car&bike' and 'Das WeltAuto by Volkswagen'.