Rajiv Bajaj is known to make some bold statements and the latest ones from him came at the launch of the new Pulsar 250 range in Pune. The MD of Bajaj Auto was asked at the launch event about EVs and start-ups to which he said that he would rather bet on BET (Bajaj Enfield TVS) and the reason is that legacy two-wheeler companies have demonstrated their capabilities. He further stated that “among startups the biggest is Ola but they haven’t produced or sold anything. Ather we enormously respect.” Moreover, the top honcho went on to say that we (Bajaj Auto) are Champions and Champions eat oats for breakfast. He added that by OATS, he means Ola, Ather, Tork and SmartE. The aforementioned statements created enough buzz on the web and as expected, Ather Energy has now responded to these, sparking a fun banter.
Launching our new line of products for a quicker and smarter start to the day — OATs for champions ????
Recommended by experts.#NationalOatmealDay pic.twitter.com/f8XMBQQ42k— Ather Energy (@atherenergy) October 29, 2021
Must say, the OATS and BET acronyms by Rajiv Bajaj made my day today ????
Never a dull moment in this industry.
— Tarun Mehta (@tarunsmehta) October 28, 2021
Just a day after Rajiv Bajaj made those statements, the Bengaluru-based electric scooter start-up posted a picture of an oats packet on social media with the caption – “Launching our new line of products for a quicker and smarter start to the day — OATs for champions Bowl with spoon. Recommended by experts.” What followed at the end of the post was a hashtag – #NationalOatmealDay. Moreover, Tarun Mehta, Ather Energy’s Co-Founder and CEO also stated on Twitter about how the BET and OATS acronyms by Rajiv Bajaj made his day and he added that there is never a dull moment in this industry.
???? https://t.co/ovmRTVOZ35
— Bhavish Aggarwal (@bhash) October 28, 2021
Ola Electric was also not behind in reacting to Bajaj’s statements. Bhavish Aggarwal, took part in this banter, though indirectly. The Ola CEO retweeted a tweet that mentioned how Chetak is not even in the competition with Ola and Ather electric scooters. The said tweet compared the sales numbers of Chetak, Ather and Ola e-scooters and highlighted the fact that how Ola Electric sold ~90k scooters in one window even before a single unit rolled out of the factory while Ather sold 1,800 EVs in July alone.
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