[Vitruvius]

I agree with the overwhelming sentiment here. It's not so much about the new electric car or scooter, but the hype it creates on social media. And as is evident from the tweets by the CEO, you're either with him or against him.

The 'burnol response' is akin to throwing a fart, and expecting the gully boys to start laughing with you.

I wish them luck, and hope that maybe they have an ace up their sleeves to be acting like this.

[headers]

These guys stoop down to any levels. Ola is yet to get the maturity it needs to be in the automotive sector.

The initial reviews of their scooters are not disruptive technology but just run of the mill electric powertrain. Shifting focus to cars now is only for valuations I'd presume.

Hormazd is a reputed auto journalist with over 2 decades of automotive journalism with him. to rubbish him like that is extremely immature and insensitive.

Yes, cash alone is not king in this space, even while we look at Tesla for reference who have more than a decade experience before they made it big.

[Equus]

Hormazd was also not fully right in his tweet - uncalled for really. I doubt he would have responded the same way if the tweet was from Bajaj or someone else - something cooking?!!

Response from Bhavish was way uncalled for as well. Forgetful!

[Gansan]

I will reserve my comments about Ola scooter for now, forget about the future car and the company itself. If they iron out all the issues with the scooter and remain on their feet one year from now, I will buy the scooter. May be, just may be buy their share too if they come out with a public issue. Right now they are burning start up funding cash.

But right now I don't take them very seriously and will watch the fun from the sidelines.

[Storm2.0]

Well Bhavish is trying to emulate Mr Musk, trying to be savage all the time without any reason. Excess of anything ie confidence, fear, money, power, failure, success is too bad.

[stallmaster]

Looks like what someone in 1990 would design for the brief "what cars will look like in 2022".

Found this gem and others in the comments.

Tbh, this portrays Ola's design team in poor light. Going by the Morning Context article, the mercurial(bordering unhinged) Mr. Aggarwal most probably hounded the design head for any sort of render in 24hrs time and warned him of the pink slip if he failed to deliver. Now you have this monstrosity of an electric car.

And to save face, he does the centuries old trick: Offense is the best defense.

[deetjohn]

Originally Posted by akhilesh

Except Tesla didnt start with scooters, they started with a car. What you see today started almost 15 years ago. Even Volkswagen with all its might hasnt been successful yet and the other car

LOL

You don't need me to tell you how many times Elon tried to kill Tesla off with hasty and super aggressive decisions which weren't logical or practical at all!

Not so long ago, the mighty Tesla was bleeding from quarter to quarter all thanks to Elon' plan for 'world domination'.

The employees suffered, both customers & suppliers were put under extreme agony, the real founders of Tesla quit... the list is endless.

I would say Elon' plan to go ahead with the Model 3 is as BIG if not bigger than OLA' plan to build a car! Trust me, Tesla was in no shape or form to get that done back then. But, Elon got it done and people are back with their rose tinted glasses.

Originally Posted by akhilesh

Hormazd is absolutely right when he says car are a different ball game altogether. The reply was a cheap shot for sure.

My problem with Hormazd is this! His tweet is very good, isn't it? On the point. For the 'benefit' of the customers - you & I.

So then, why isn't he doing this for all the manufacturers? Why do they gloss over shortcomings or limitations or quality issues or safety concerns of ALL cars under review?? The polished English that they use to tide over the shortcomings during review is absolutely disgusting!! Why single out OLA??

Why not call all spades, a spade?? That's my problem!

And for the record, I am no fan of the OLA scooter, I will any day pick an Ather over Ola in its current guise. Just like, I would prefer a Rivian or Lucid over Tesla.

Let OLA boffins go for what they think is right for them and their company. But I can't help but think that the established in this industry here is all set to bring OLA down, while they cut a BIG BIG slack for others! And that is never going to sit right with me.

[audioholic]

If the long term service quality of Ola is anything worth watching, then take an Ola cab today compared to a few years ago when they were burning investor money. Its pathetic. If they cant maintain an asset light model with just having to be an aggregator, I do not believe they can make a huge inroad into selling scooters. Of course everyone is excited at the launch with thousands of people who have booked the scooter even without getting a feel of the product. Trying to be an optimistic person, let me guess that they would eventually iron out all their issues and become a Tesla of the two wheeler world. But that itself will take a year if not two years of effort. Maybe he has turned a blind eye to Ather. Ather being a product that has seen so much of ground up development(unlike being brought) with so much of efforts in getting their production and deliveries right, have still just managed to grab a small fraction of the overall two wheeler sales. Now Ola seems to have a much bigger goal and hype and lets see what happens in the coming year.

Hormazd Sorabjee has a point there, no matter how rude that may sound. Manufacturing a car isnt as easy as manufacturing two wheelers. And it is not some random guy who is saying this. Instead of taking that constructively and responding in a reassuring manner, this guy Bhavish wants to troll around. Has Hormazd or Autocar ever limited themselves to only Internal combustion engined vehicles? Even if its an electric vehicle, they would still publish the same content and put it through the same exercises. Nothing to be burnt about. I think everyone thinks they can be Elon Musk but reality is different

[androdev]

you mostly read good things about Ather. There is no petrol media conspiracy. In fact, ICE company invested in Ather.

The problem is that OLA is relentless with its PR hype when things on the ground are disastrous. Can we give them more time to prove? Yes, of course. But do we also have to put up with the arrogance and false bravado?

As someone who knows a bit about startups I can tell you OLA is under a tremendous pressure to fabricate an exit and he is losing it, there is no other explantion for such a third rate tweet.

Unlike tech startups that mange to window dress or obfuscate their business, manufacturing is a very well understood domain by investors and stock market. There is only one way to get a decent exit in manufacturing and that is by delivering on the ground. Can OLA do it? I am inclined to bet against them doing it, especially after seeing this tweet.

[Guna]

Originally Posted by Equus

Hormazd was also not fully right in his tweet - uncalled for really. I doubt he would have responded the same way if the tweet was from Bajaj or someone else - something cooking?!!

Response from Bhavish was way uncalled for as well. Forgetful!

Journalists are kept in good humour by the traditional auto industry. New age startups don't really care. Both Hormazd's advice and the response indicate that they have a not so cordial relationship.

[warrioraks]

Ola CEO would have earned an infraction if his Burnol post was on Tbhp. It's pure trolling.

A man leading one of the largest startups in the country should have better control over his public display of emotions!

[neil.jericho]

Im not surprised anymore by the actions, and inactions of Ola's leadership. They talk a big talk but can barely walk the walk. All the hype and hoopla of how they will flood the market with their exciting scooters has turned out to be a damp squib. So many features of the promised features arent even fully developed and will be released later.

Their knee jerk decision making only goes to show they they are completely out of their league in the manufacturing space. Initially, there was a lot of support for Ola's leadership, despite their missteps but now even that has seems to be slowly disappearing.

All I see are desperate efforts to stay in the limelight and get some chatter about the brand. Maybe Ola would be better off without their eccentric leader.

[ashutoshb]

"#petrolmedia"?

Never thought ICE and EV journos were different.

What the Ola CEO is insinuating, IMHO, is that Hormazd belongs to the journo tribe, which are on the payroll of ICE car manufacturers to target Ola, which they see as a threat.

Is that the case here? I think not.

Hormazd is a veteran, much respected journo. Is he unbiased in his reviews? I do not know. Is he close to one particular manufacturer? I do not know that either. But is he doing what the Ola CEO is suggesting? No.

His tweet suggests, what is common sense. Take one step at a time. First, instill confidence in buyers by making your scooters successful. Then move to cars.

There could have been a hundred ways of replying to his tweet. But maybe a cocktail of a few drops of single malt and a dash of arrogance took over.

Made me dislike this guy even more. He just lost one prospective customer.

[2000rpm]

Originally Posted by Venkatesh

Attachment 2265016

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

I honestly want OLA to succeed but this product, doesnt cut it.

The culture of an organization reflects in its actions. So far, this is what I understand about the culture of Ola from my interactions with its interfaces (2 wheeler test drives, Ola rides vs Uber rides, Twitter handles)

1. The company has no attention to detail. Works in the typical "Chalta hai" attitude. Look at their cars now, they are poor condition, not clean with the worst of drivers.
2. The company doesn't understand quality. Any company which is ok with releasing a product in the condition they did, is shameful to say the least. I will be embarrassed to send such a deliverable even internally, forget customers.
3. The company's solution to the whole thing is, lets raise funding.

I dont think the founders realize the sh$t they are in. They are in the classical Dunning Kruger Mount of stupid. https://search.brave.com/images?q=dunning%20kruger#10

This is a complex task that they have taken up. They are trying to address the price part of it by throwing scale at it. But Quality, is something they need to work upon. The valuation game, comes crashing down faster than it rises. #Paytm. Once listed, the market doesnt respect who are your funders are, it will show you the reality of condition.

[Latheesh]

Looks like they are planning their IPO to join PayTM, Zomato, Nykaa, and Policy Bazaar.