[udaikalra01]

Ola Electric today announced the appointment of Wayne Burgess, as Head of Vehicle Design for its entire product range including scooters, bikes, cars and more.

Commenting on the appointment, Bhavish Aggarwal, Chairman and Group CEO, Ola, said, “Wayne is a fantastic addition to our leadership team and will bring global appeal and design aesthetic to our industry changing electric vehicles. As the world moves to EVs, the vehicle form factors will be fundamentally reimagined. Wayne’s expertise in designing some of the most legendary vehicles will also be helpful in bringing these new form factors to consumers. I look forward to collaborating with him to build the most iconic range of EVs in the world.”

Expressing his keen interest to take charge of vehicle design at Ola Electric, Wayne Burgess said, “I am looking forward to my work at Ola Electric and to the opportunity to lead a team that will work on designing cutting-edge electric vehicles for the world. I am thrilled to be part of Ola as it accelerates on its path to become a leader in global EV solutions.”

Wayne has spent almost three decades designing vehicles for the majority of British premium automotive manufacturers, from Rolls Royce and Bentley in his early career, to Aston Martin and Jaguar Landrover to, more recently, Lotus. Notably, Wayne was the Chief Designer for the Jaguar F-Type sports car, and then Studio Director for the Jaguar F-Pace SUV.

Ola Electric announces appointment of Wayne Burgess as Head of Vehicle Design







Press release

[Aditya]

Ola Electric appoints Wayne Burgess (ex-Jaguar and Aston Martin designer) as Head of Vehicle Design - Post moved to a new thread.

[androdev]

Can we create a single thread titled "Ola PR news and updates" and make all these posts part of that thread? It has reached SPAM level now.

[Dhillon]

This is an interesting news. So OLA wants to expand its EV footprint to cars also at a global level. But isn't OLA's main focus on Electric 2W? If I remember correctly, when the work on the new 2W factory started, OLA said that its goal is to be a big player in electric 2W across the world. Wonder what response Bajaj will have to OLA's 2W.

[adi58]

The company seems to be too desperate to start making profits. They have no clear vision, they keep changing their business model. One day they want to be OLA of the world and the next is Tesla of India. OLA is a big bubble.

[udaikalra01]

Originally Posted by adi58

They have no clear vision, they keep changing their business model. One day they want to be OLA of the world and the next is Tesla of India. OLA is a big bubble.

Sorry, but what's the reason of saying that? Ola had announced about launching electric 4 wheelers as well as 2 wheelers the day they laid the foundation of their new manufacturing facility. That surely does not make them a Tesla wannabe.

[adi58]

Originally Posted by udaikalra01

Ola had announced about launching electric 4 wheelers as well as 2 wheelers the day they laid the foundation of their new manufacturing facility.

They wanted to start with electric cabs which failed in its pilot stage. Then they decide to manufacture electric scooters (which is still not ready) and now their electric cars press release was just last week.

[udaikalra01]

Originally Posted by adi58

They wanted to start with electric cabs which failed in its pilot stage.

That doesn't mean that they never thought about manufacturing EVs. Hyundai invested over 300 million dollars in Ola Electric back in 2019 last quarter. They must have been planning about these from way before that.

Then they decide to manufacture electric scooters and now their electric cars press release was just last week.

When Ola Electric announced manufacturing 2 wheelers, Bhavish Aggarwal told in the interviews that they are already working on smaller electric 4 wheelers, too and will have separate manufacturing facilities for them.

You can watch this interview in which he told about Ola's EV strategy. It definitely sounds very ambitious but would be great if it actually happens.

https://youtu.be/ogq_1UQrNs0

[Venkatesh]

Julian Thomson, the Design Director at Jaguar, has resigned and will be leaving the company at the end of this month.

Reports online suggest that he could be headed to India to work for nascent EV maker Ola Electric.

Source

[GTO]

Originally Posted by androdev

Can we create a single thread titled "Ola PR news and updates" and make all these posts part of that thread?

I completely understand where you are coming from and there has been a lot of Ola news lately. But each of those developments deserve their own discussion. Ola's global ambitions, Ola now planning a car...and last but not the least, this one! It is quite major news when a ride-hailing company hires an iconic designer who was responsible for cars like the F-Pace.

[Shreyxas]

Originally Posted by adi58

The company seems to be too desperate to start making profits. They have no clear vision, they keep changing their business model. One day they want to be OLA of the world and the next is Tesla of India. OLA is a big bubble.

No clear vision? Do you think the chap from IIT Delhi built a mega empire through no vision? Can we appreciate the fact that he is taking the initiative to do something no one in india has done before, instead of criticizing them? And not all companies who create electric vehicles are wannabe Tesla.

[Gaur]

Originally Posted by adi58

They wanted to start with electric cabs which failed in its pilot stage. Then they decide to manufacture electric scooters (which is still not ready) and now their electric cars press release was just last week.

OLA is working on the 4 wheeler space since quite some time.
I personally know of few people in my common professional circle who have been recruited last year itself for the 4W project.

There still is a open position for 4W chassis design Head on OLA job portal.

The 2W got a lot of publicity due to the takeover of Etergo, but work on 4W is going on in background with full focus.

Very close to the upcoming OLA plant in Hosur, TVS is also expanding development of electric 3 and 4 wheeler vehicles.

Expect a lot of action in this space now.

[adi58]

Originally Posted by Shreyxas

No clear vision? Do you think the chap from IIT Delhi built a mega empire through no vision?

So are you discriminating other good universities in the country? What kind of a mega empire is this which is not profitable even after a decade? And is dependent on PR to raise more funds and burn investors money?

[androdev]

COVID must have really hurt OLA ride sharing business, they have to urgently create a narrative to stay relevant in their pump-and-dump universe. All their recent PR announcements could have been a single consolidated PR outlining their strategy/vision, etc but instead they deliberately choose to stagger them to maximise the "TRP" ratings.

Among all possible high profile CXO hires a company can do, "head of design" offers the maximum ROI on publicity. It is very cheap to hire a head of design - because you just need one person, you don't have to build an organisation/infrastructure around him. It costs very less and if the person is looking for a job, it will cost even less. If you hire a high profile head of engineering, he/she would expect a proper engineering/R&D team to be setup. Head of design is almost like a consultant.

It is one thing to clone UBER because you just need an app and tons of VC money to do marketing. It is completely another thing to setup a manufacturing plant unless of course you are setting it up to window dress and sell.

I feel sad for "App" companies being forced into brick and mortar businesses to remain relevant. Especially manufacturing is the most painful way to make money in our country - diametrically opposite to App based businesses.

But it's all like bitcoin economy - magic! Some people will make truck loads of money and some will be left holding the bag. They always manage to find a Softbank or a retail investor to hold those bags.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by androdev

It is one thing to clone UBER because you just need an app and tons of VC money to do marketing. It is completely another thing to setup a manufacturing plant unless of course you are setting it up to window dress and sell.

I feel sad for "App" companies being forced into brick and mortar businesses to remain relevant. Especially manufacturing is the most painful way to make money in our country - diametrically opposite to App based businesses.

But it's all like bitcoin economy - magic! Some people will make truck loads of money and some will be left holding the bag. They always manage to find a Softbank or a retail investor to hold those bags.

Very well said. I wish Bhavesh well. And if, I repeat if he succeeds to build his OLA EV car and OLA EV scooter it might be good for the customer as it will afford greater choice.

This seems a confused strategy to me frankly unless this is that one in a billion chance that another Tesla is in the making. unlikely as the first mover advantage is gone. And even Tesla took 17 years from incorporation to post a net income after tax. My question to Bhavesh is what do you really want OLA to be when it grows up. Bhavesh should know that investors, like PE funds, may wait 17 years for an internet company to show a profit but not with a brick & mortar one. And the whole market culture, business approach, engineering demands, environment management, unions etc in a brick and mortar world are light years away from app based businesses as Androdev so correctly put it. I am clear this a gamble to boost valuations and kissi aur investor ko topi pahna do {pass on the buck to the next investor}.

I for one wouldn't rush to buy an OLA car over say a Toyota or Volvo because OLA will first have to demonstrate they know how to produce consistent engineering quality and deliver consistent ASS service. With OLA cab services they have proved they know who to scale fast in a franchisee model but not with either top quality or consistency. Nothing in the company or its founders history indicates they know much about production, distribution and delivery of a complex physical engineering product along with a ten year ASS support service thereafter. You can only buy talent up to a point.

Of course I could be wrong. Valuations don't make a business. And why a low margin modest growth business like making cars & scooters? I am frankly baffled. But then we live in strange times where Zomato, a last mile business, is rumored to be valued at 40X revenues in its forthcoming IPO.

This is no different from them announcing that they are branching out into the highway construction and toll road management business - after all that is as linked to OLA cab services as making cars is.

Of course many members are likely to disagree with this assessment of mine.