[SR-71]

I think team-bhp should allow us to use expletives for exceptional situations like this to express our feelings more freely. I surely have a string of them in atleast 3 different languages in response to this tweet. When it comes to social media, most claims seem to be 'no substance, only gas'... Sorry Fogg!

[AJITHAAA]

With only a half baked scooter out, this guy is looking more like another Trevor Milton or Elizabeth Holmes. Another scam artist in the making?

[barefeetdriver]

Recently there was a Twitter "feud" between actor Madhavan and author Chetan Baghat. Turns out it was orchestrated and an ad for their upcoming Netflix show Decoupled.

So nothing is beyond the realms apparently.

[FiatDiesel]

Automobiles is serious business. And people are particular about quality and efficiency specially in India. And ICE engine automobile companies have served them well, be it Hero, Honda, Suzuki et al. To crack this market, commitments made are sacred and should be 100% met.
In case of Ola, I am not sure if they have procedures and processes in place to serve this customer base. It’s not service industry like taxi ride, where 1 bad experience is shrugged off by customer. Here you are selling product, which is dream for many, and if turns out to be nasty, people don’t forget.
Somehow I am wary of these startup’s until they have proven themselves for couple of years.
And yes tweets from head of the company does reflect on thought process. On one extreme end we have leaders like Anand Mahindra, other end we have jokers like….

[Jhinchak]

Good or Bad, OLA is surely getting some publicity and is always trying to be in the headlines.

[heydj]

Its good to have vision and ambition so i see nothing wrong in saying Ola wants to get into electric cars.

What I do find funny is how he is being dissed by people for having this vision. He may reach there few years later then planned but that is okay.

Somewhere someone did dream that one day people will settle on Mars. That may happen few decades later but that is ok.

Yes automobile is difficult business but I am sure Ola will hire the right experts to make that happen so its ok.

I wish Ola the best in reaching its goals.

[androdev]

Originally Posted by heydj

What I do find funny is how he is being dissed by people for having this vision. He may reach there few years later then planned but that is okay.

Sir, it's not called vision. It's known as pivoting.

My head hurts everytime someone mentions Elon Musk and OLA in the same post. Ouch, it just hurt!

[BoJack]

The reply form the Ola CEO reminds me of Elon Musk, maybe that's what he is trying to do here. Like when Jeremy Clarkson gave a bad review for the Tesla Roadster and Elon sued him for it (if I remember correctly).

[Ravi Parwan]

At the risk of going slightly off topic, I would like to draw attention to the case of the Nano and Tata Motors. When Mr Tata made the 1 lakh rupee car promise, they had nothing on paper (my guess, maybe wrong).

They went ahead and brought the car to market, with considerable delays. Tata Motors was maligned left right and center, but I don't recall Mr Tata ever retaliating like this.

When the car was introduced, it had some niggles and then the firegate happened. All hell broke loose on Tata Motors in print and on the web. Still Mr Tata remained within his limits of decency and continued to try and revive a car that could have been a game changer in automotive industry.

In all the mud slinging and name calling, no one could accuse him of stooping to the level of his detractors. I just wish that today's leaders could learn a thing or two from him and behave with dignity....

[rahul4321]

I am no fan of Bhavish of Ola. Most of his interviews feel like a forget-problems-spin-greatness kind of speech. Also, for me personally and this is just my opinion, profit making companies inherently deserve more respect than valuation companies inflated with cash infusion - especially those which are only faciliators and work off brokerage/convenience fee but do not manufacture or service any products themselves; Zomato, Swiggy, Urban Clap, Ola, Uber etc

I would never invest a penny in these companies just because they do not have a differentiator and what they do can be done by anybody else- which is why we see competitor apps coming up almost instantly.

Having said that - I admire what Bhavish is trying to do. Started from a Facilitator / Convenience Fee model in Ola Taxi to moving to a Manufacturer / Assembler role in Ola Scooter

Hormzad on the other hand is purely akin to a middle age uncle who is telling a younger guy not to take enterprenual risks because he wants him to focus on one thing at a time. As someone else said, pretty petty double standards.

Why didnt he slam Skoda for first sorting out their faulty DSG in their first car and recommend, they do not install them in more cars until they sort it out.

Why no chatter about Mitsubishi's lack of support to current owners but still going ga-ga over the Evo which has practically no customer base in India.

Instead he will choose to do one more article with how he recommended the Gypsy to his famous celebrity pal John Abraham.

Not a fan of either Bhavish or Hormzad but can we atleast appreciate the first guy for trying.

[ChevyTeddy]

Let's separate the issues here.
One, Hormazd's tweet. He is entitled to ask his question, especially when it pertains to the industry he reports on. You can claim that he acted out of malicious intent because he's kinder to other brands. Why not also think that he's perhaps holding Ola to a higher standard simply because he wants it to crack the code and not stagger under the same, well-documented failures that are plaguing other, more traditional companies? Not saying this is the case, but just the possibility that it could be should give us pause.
Two, Bhavish's response. I do have a problem with CEOs who claim success when the most they've achieved is separating investors from their money. Ola was not a novel concept, but they did what they should be doing well - as a ride-hailing app. Yes, they had culture issues. They had op issues. But for every ride that failed, they delivered on thousands more - otherwise, they would have gone the way of other ride-hailing apps! Ola has been a good counterpoint to Uber, preventing the space from being a monopoly, and are big enough to keep Uber competitive - in terms of both price and experience.
Back to what Bhavish said. He could have answered as befits a CEO by talking about the improvements or safeguards Ola is putting in. He could have spoken of what they are fixing after learning from their scooter rollout. He could have even said, "Wait and watch!" And it would have been okay.
But to play the tune of everyone-is-out-to-get-us speaks of either paranoia - in which case the Board should examine his suitability to continue in his role without oversight - or wilful trolling, which then exposes his (and his PR team's) mindset as fuddled and clueless.
Neither excuses his reply on account of "hey, he's doing something!" The fact is that these guys - Musk and Agarwal - have been given resources we can only dream of. They have the responsibility, therefore, to use those resources well. They should leave the SM trolling to others who have nothing better to do with their time. It should not be that Ola can expect better behaviour from its drivers (at least as expressed in commitments to customer centricity) than it can from the CEO.

[parrymx5]

It's actually hilarious with the amount of publicity OLA is getting with these kind of publicity stunts. Not sure if it's the good kind though.

[ambarkhan]

It is amazing how OLA's is able to magically produce vehicles with very less R&D.

TORK, Rivian, Tesla took years to come with their first product in the market

the following two videos explains them a little bit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0PWmj9ovtw

Watch this one from 11:30

https://youtu.be/dEXH-K1m2kI?t=695

[porsche_guy]

This is not at all acceptable behaviour from the CEO of a company with a valuation of $5B. But I must say I am not at all surprised.

Ola has never been the strong and focused company and has dabbled in so many varied industries, I sometimes feel if they think of themselves as a Reliance or Tata. Mr.CEO's comment definitely shows that arrogance.

What cracked me up me the most is the #petrolmedia comment. Yeah, Ola what happened to the million EVs in the fleet that were supposed to be incorporated till 2021? What happened to the Jayem Neo EV (electric version of the nano) that was supposed to be acquired by you in big numbers?

What I see is all talks in the air and nothing done on the ground. It's only a matter of "when" and not "if" for their downfall

[voldemort]

I haven't got the reference yet.

I can see that Hormazd Sorabjee raised a valid point.

But what does the Burnol reply even mean? Like, I just don't get it. Can somebody explain what is really going on?

I can see he may have been mocking the naysayers, but why did he use Burnol specifically? Like, what is it about Burnol that affect the "petrolmedia"?

(Please don't misread this post as me trying to support that CEO. I'm not.)