New Delhi: In December 2021, Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra offered to present a Mahindra vehicle to Maharashtra's Dattatraya Lohar as a token of appreciation after being impressed by the latter’s “ingenuity”.
Dattatraya, a blacksmith from Devrashtre village of the state, had built a vehicle designed like a smaller version of Jeep but with very limited functionality.
Sharing a 45-second video on Twitter, Anand Mahindra had then posted: “This clearly doesn’t meet with any of the regulations but I will never cease to admire the ingenuity and ‘more with less’ capabilities of our people. And their passion for mobility—not to mention the familiar front grille.”
In a subsequent tweet posted the next day, the famous industrialist offered him a Bolero in exchange, saying Dattatraya would not be allowed to ply his vehicle eventually because it doesn’t follow regulations.
“Local authorities will sooner or later stop him from plying the vehicle since it flouts regulations. I’ll personally offer him a Bolero in exchange. His creation can be displayed at MahindraResearchValley to inspire us, since ‘resourcefulness’ means doing more with less resources,” he posted.
A month on, Mahindra took to Twitter to share that Dattatraya accepted his offer, and was handed over a Bolero.
He said the vehicle designed by the villager will now be part of Mahindra’s ‘Research Valley’.
“Delighted that he accepted the offer to exchange his vehicle for a new Bolero. Yesterday his family received the Bolero & we proudly took charge of his creation. It will be part of our collection of cars of all types at our Research Valley & should inspire us to be resourceful,” Mahindra posted.
Dattatraya had made the vehicle with an investment of Rs 60,000, according to the video shared in December.
The left-hand drive vehicle started with a kick, like two-wheelers. It was built with old and abandoned car parts, the man can be heard saying in Marathi in the video.
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