Ola Electric CEO Bhavish Aggarwal, 38, has come under netizens radar for exaggerated claims about his company’s position among global electric vehicle makers.
During an event last week, Ola Electric Mobility launched a new series of motorcycles, where Aggarwal claimed that the company is the “world’s fourth-largest EV company by revenue”. There was a detail he forgot to mention however — that these ranks excluded China.
Netizens began trolling and meme-ing the gaffe, as the missing caveat was visible in fine print on the presentation slide behind Aggarwal.
A number of social media posts on X (formerly known as Twitter), called out Aggarwal for “tall claims”, while pointing out the “excluding China” on the slide.
Netizens Reactions: Fact Check, Memes and Trolling
Alt News journalist and X user Abhishek noted the omission by Ola.
To present Ola Electric as the 4th largest EV company in the world by revenue and 5th largest EV company in the world by market cap, they have *excluded China, which has the most number of EV companies in the world’s top 10 by revenue or market cap. 🤡 pic.twitter.com/eIduazQutn
— Abhishek (@AbhishekSay) August 15, 2024
The Tesla fanclub on X also joined in.
*Excluding China 🤣?
Well Ola has done good stuff and good numbers & yes they are largest 2w EV company in India, but what’s the need of this pic.twitter.com/JN04m7iUUS
— Tesla Club India® (@TeslaClubIN) August 15, 2024
Memes spun from the event.
Micromax is the 3rd largest mobile phone company in India*
*excluding Chinese brands pic.twitter.com/eYvbvr75t8
— Azhar Jafri (@zhr_jafri) August 15, 2024
Users also began trolling and calling out tendency of trying to make a “good story”.
User Ankit @caankitnagpal said, “India won 2023 ODI WC**excluding non asian teams”.
And user Ishwar Singh @IshwarBagga wrote, “Don’t let the facts come in between a good story.”
Ola makes foray into electric motorcycle, launches 3 models
Ola Group on August 15 announced its foray into the electric motorcycle segment with the launch of three models and two more in the pipeline, PTI reported.
Speaking at Sankalp 2024 — Ola’s annual launch event, Aggarwal said it was imperative for the company to enter the segment. “We have already been successful in accelerating the EV adoption in the scooter segment, and with our futuristic portfolio of products, we are now focused on supercharging the EV penetration through our motorcycles,” he said.
Ola Electric’s bike portfolio under the Roadster range comprises Roaster X, Roadster, and Roadster Pro with prices starting at ₹74,999, ₹1,04,999, and ₹1,99,999 respectively. Deliveries of these bikes will begin from Q4FY25 onwards. Roadster Pro delivery will begin in Q4FY26. The company also teased two new motorcycles, the PTI report added.