Ola CEO and founder Bhavish Aggarwal believes the era of ICE (internal combustion engine) two-wheelers will be over soon, thanks to disruptive products like the S1 Air scooter launched by his company at Rs. 79,999 (introductory offer).
Despite Ola Electric earning the ‘Tesla of India’ sobriquet, he’d rather that the Ola brand be recognised globally. He feels India will become the EV capital of the world, and a company like Tesla should set up a manufacturing facility here to build products for the entire world.
“We believe India can lead the world’s EV market and that is our mission. Indian companies should be the world’s leading EV firms. Not just Ola, there are other good companies that can be a part of the EV revolution,’’ said Aggarwal during his interaction with reporters.
Asked for his views on Tesla demanding tax breaks, he maintained, “It is the government’s prerogative to set the rules and policies for what should happen when a particular company enters India. I will only say that if Tesla wants to do business here, it should make products for world markets. That is what we are doing by leveraging India’s strengths and taking our products global.”
The Indian government has not softened its stance regarding taxes on Tesla cars imported from China . While the government is adamant that it will not compromise on its policy of Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India), the American electric carmaker is not keen to manufacture products locally unless it is allowed to first sell and service its cars in the country.
Nearly a month back, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari had urged German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz to produce more cars locally, and emphasised that such a move would reduce costs and increase affordability. Gadkar had also said that there was a huge market for electric vehicles in the country.
Ola Electric believes its low-cost e-scooter, the S1 Air, will make it the largest two-wheeler player in the country. A senior Ola official had told Moneycontrol that the price point will be close to or even less than the bestselling scooter, Honda Activa, which is petrol-driven.
“We absolutely expect the S1 to be a gamechanger for the scooter market in India. We expect this to completely change the paradigm and consumer preference when it comes to mass-market scooters. There are two or three established scooter brands with decent volumes (Activa), etc. Our ambition is to eat up that market and provide consumers a much better choice," added Aggarwal.
Without sharing numbers he said, “With the kind of price points, features, and specifications we have, we will absolutely end the ICE age in those segments.”
Reacting to recent reports about his “abrasive style of management,”, Aggarwal said that his company plays by its own set of rules, which may not be agreeable to a certain kind of people.
“We’re a company on a mission and are not here to build ‘me-too’ products. My personal style is probably more aggressive than the average new-age entrepreneur. We have a culture of impact, merit, high quality, and high execution,” Aggarwal said.
“There are so many examples of people who have done really well in our environment. We would like others to judge us by our impact.” he added.
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