EVs 'Politically Hyped', Think Of Them As Toy, Says Gautam Singhania

The Managing Director and Chairman of Raymond Group Gautam Hari Singhania, who is also the founder of India's first Supercar Club, remarked that he thinks Electric Vehicles (EVs) have been politically hyped.

Speaking at the NDTV World Summit, the Singhania answered a question on whether he likes to drive electrical vehicles and said, "I do not think about them."

He drew a parallel of EVs with toy cars and said, "I had a battery operated car when I was a four-year-old, why are we talking about EVs now? My little car was also an EV."

Further, talking about motorsports in India, he said, "If you want to grow in motorsport, you have to have an ecosystem. Motorsport is not practised here. My daughter rides in Belgium because the ecosystem is there. I can go racing every day in the UK".

Singhania, who founded the supercar club in 2008, said that India needs to be part of the ecosystem to join the Motorsport Cohort.

Sharing his love and passion for supercars and driving in Mumbai the Chairman also said, "When you look at supercars, there are very few cars that make supercars. They commit you a car, then it takes years. You get the delivery two or three years after they are delivered. I drive my car around 7 a.m. That's the best time to enjoy them."

Besides cars and automotive, Singhania also delved into areas such as defence and highlighted that the Russian-Ukraine war threw opportunity for new technologies and that they are working on a "host" of products.

He talked about possibilities of operating in the United States and said that they will not entertain them as they do not want to work in uncertainties, "As the middle class grows, as its aspirations grow, everyone wants affordable luxury. There is a huge interest in aerospace and defence to manufacture in India. Will it happen? Yes. How long will it take? It can be anybody's guess. As a conscious decision, we have decided that we will not operate in the US. We don't want to deal with that uncertainty", he stated.

The Raymond chairman also disagreed with the statement that termed his company as a 'luxury' brand and said that that they "are in the belly of the market".