Uber Looking To Bring Back Its High-End Service ‘Black’ To India To Cater To Premium Segment

Ride-hailing major Uber is bringing back its high-end Uber Black service to India as the company focuses on upgrading its services to cater to the premium segment.

This service is expected to be rolled out in the next few weeks, starting with some localities in Mumbai.

Uber Black is a service in its high-end black cars, with highly rated and professional chauffeurs.

An Uber spokesperson told Inc42, “There is a critical mass of travellers that are willing to pay a premium for on-demand services that give them high end experience and as Uber caters to a full spectrum of riders with different mobility needs, we are responding to this growing demand.”

The development was reported by the Economic Times first.

“Uber Black will be priced comparatively 30-40% more than its existing high-end service Uber Premier, and the company expects it to have a huge traction with corporate travel use cases,” a source was quoted while saying in the report.

In 2013, the company started its India operations with Uber Black, under which high-end cars such as Mercedes, BMW and Audi were available on demand. Back then, Uber replaced these luxury cars with models such as Toyota Innova, Honda City and Toyota Corolla, which was later stalled the following year due to limited purchasing power of consumers.

To blend with the consumers’ preferences, in 2014, Uber launched its low cost cab booking service UberGo in India, with its base fare starting at INR 40, further priced at INR 12/Km (Delhi) and increasing by INR 1 per minute. 

UberGo has a new range of hatchbacks as part of its fleet, comprising Tata Indica Vista, Nissan Micra and Maruti Suzuki Swift.

With the persistently high inflation spiking the price bands of groceries to grooming, consumers have now become well-adjusted to higher spending and are open to adapting the style of luxury services.

The revamped version of Uber Black and Uber Black SUV will be a far more sustainable model where customers will be provided with a white glove cab service in bigger cars than currently available commercial sedans, one of the sources was quoted as saying in the report.

The source also said that the sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) and multi-utility vehicles (MUVs) of Toyota, MG and others will be part of the Uber Black service.

The ride-hailing giant’s chief executive officer Dara Khosrowshahi earlier this year said that India has been one of the toughest markets to crack.

Ola’s competitor in India has been on trend to meet its consumers’ demand.

For instance, the company launched UberGo, when it saw the pinch in consumer spending, and the rising interests on public transport led to bringing in Uber shuttle rides.

The recent introduction being Uber Green with the mounting likes over electric vehicles, in November 2023.

Updated at 11:43 AM