Ambani’s Rolls-Royce Cullinan, Tata’s Ferrari California or Murthy’s Skoda: which Indian billionaire has the best taste in cars?
- Asia’s second-richest man just spent US$1.8 million on the world’s most expensive SUV, adding to his collection of Phantoms, Lamborghinis, Bentleys and Cadillacs
- Many tycoons share his passion. Mittal has a ‘palace on wheels’, Tata favours a Ferrari and Poonawalla has a ‘batmobile’ Mercedes. So who’s the poor guy with the Skoda?
Such is the passion of Asia’s second-richest man for automobiles that the managing director of the oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Reliance Industries even coughed up an additional US$15,000 for a number plate ending with “0001”.
Not that that is the first Cullinan the 64-year-old has bought. Named after the largest diamond ever discovered, this is the third in his crowded garage overflowing with 168 other beauties. These include a Rolls-Royce Phantom V111 sedan, a Bentley Bentayga SUV, a Lamborghini Roadster, an armoured Mercedes-Maybach S600 Guard and various models of McLarens, Cadillacs, and Aston Martins.
On Ambani’s 60th birthday, his wife, Nita, also a car lover, gave him a customised Mercedes-Benz Maybach 62 pegged at half a million dollars.
However, there are many other Indian titans who share Ambani’s craze for cars. Lakshmi Mittal, CEO of the world’s second largest steel company ArcelorMittal, owns a slew of super expensive cars including a Porsche Boxster, Rolls-Royces and several Mercedes-Benzes. However, Lakshmi’s most lavish automobile is a recreational vehicle (RV) nicknamed “Palace on Wheels” – technically a mini hotel on wheels incorporating luxury bedrooms, a shower and a living room with a flat-screen television.
Automobile expert Ankur Mittal, who runs a high-end service garage in Gurgaon, Haryana, said top-end cars appealed to the super wealthy because “nothing spells success in Indian society like an uber-expensive car”.
“The most visible signs of wealth in India are a posh residence and a big car; the bigger the better,” he said. “Also, there’s always a subtle pressure on these elite businessmen from their families and wives to keep up with the Joneses, so they end up paying up a lot for these trophy cars.”
But it doesn’t always work this way. Some tycoons are driven by their pure love for automation. Ratan Tata, the former chairman of Tata Sons, a Fortune 500 company, is driven by his love of machines. So obsessed is the 84-year-old licensed pilot that in his heydays he never missed an edition of the Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland.
Tata’s 21-year leadership of the Tata group also saw one of his companies (Tata Motors) take over the British luxury car giant Jaguar Land Rover in 2008 for US$2.3 billion. The businessman also launched the US$1,500 Tata Nano – one of the world’s cheapest cars – to make four wheels accessible to the common man. He claims to have been moved into launching the Nano after seeing a big Indian family travelling on a two wheeler clinging to each other for fear of falling off.
Tata owns a Mercedes SL500, a Maserati Quattroporte, a Cadillac XLR and a Chrysler Sebring, but his favourite is a flaming red Ferrari California that he drove around Mumbai in his younger days.
Like Tata, Cyrus Poonawalla, founder of the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, is also obsessed with automobiles. So much so that the 80-year-old even designed a sports car, a replica of a Jaguar D-type, in his twenties. Later, he bought several Rolls-Royces, Bentleys and a Ferrari F430.
The octogenarian’s son, Adar Poonawalla, CEO of SII, seems to have inherited his father’s genes. The 41-year-old owns India’s only “batmobile”, a refurbished Mercedes S350, which cost him over US$1 million.
His driveway is also studded with other gems, such as the Ferrari 360 Spider, a Rolls-Royce Phantom, a Porsche Cayenne, a BMW 7 Series, a Mercedes-Benz S600 and a Bentley Continental Flying Spur.
Industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla also owns the sort of cars most mortals can only dream of. Known as a man with many BMWs, he is the proud owner of a BMW 760 Li bulletproof sedan he had shipped from Germany after getting special permission from the government. He also has a Mercedes Maybach 600 and BMW 5 Series.
Gautam Adani, the chairman and founder of the multinational Adani Group, currently Asia’s richest man, counts his Ferrari California, BMW 7 Series and Rolls-Royce Ghost among his personal favourites.
Dilip Shanghvi, founder of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, a generic drugmaker with revenue of US$4.5 billion, owns a Rolls-Royce Ghost, a Bentley Mulsanne, an Audi A8, a Mercedes-Benz GL-Class and a BMW X5.
Still, for every flamboyant titan, there is a thrifty one who prefers a more modest vehicle.
Azim Premji, founder of the US$10 billion Wipro FMCG multinational, is one of India’s richest men but leads a very simple lifestyle. Often referred to as the “tsar of the Indian IT industry”, he uses a pre-owned Mercedes-Benz E-Class for his travels.
Similarly, bureaucrat and politician Nandan Nilekani favours a last-generation Toyota Innova MPV for his daily commute. He also owns a modestly priced Camry.
N.R. Narayana Murthy, co-founder of the US$107 billion Infosys software group, commutes in a black Skoda Laura that he bought many moons ago.
Mittal, the garage owner, who also advises celebrities on car purchases, said there was a lesson to be learned from these more frugal billionaires and their taste in cars.
Said Mittal: “They understand that cars are depreciating assets, especially brand new ones, so they avoid splurging on them and invest in appreciating assets instead. Simple living and high thinking seems to be their motto.”
