Billionaire Motilal Oswal Explains Why He Bought The Tata Safari Dark Edition Over Luxury Cars
Business tycoons and public figures usually own expensive cars and even have multi-crore garages. It is rarely that we get to see a billionaire choose a rather humble car as his trusted ride. Motilal Oswal is a big name in the financial services sector. He owns the Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited (MSOL)- a highly successful company that provides a range of financial services. It is also one of the oldest brands in stock trading in India. Oswal refused to jump on the luxury bandwagon and bought a humble Tata Safari Dark Edition as his trusted set of wheels.
The high-profile businessman shared pictures of taking delivery of the SUV online, which soon went viral. Many wondered why he made this decision. In the following days, Oswal himself explained why he put his money on the Safari Dark.
He chose Twitter (now X) to do the explainer. Oswal said that he is pursuing a minimalistic and simple life. This is the reason he chose a made-in-India product. He added that these days, he only buys Indian brands when it comes to watches, cars and other luxury goods. Oswal further remarked that he would like to buy a Mahindra next.
In the post-pandemic era, the Indian government has been having an active push for 'make in India' initiative and a complete transition to locally manufactured products and services - a part of the “Atmanirbhar Bharat" initiative. Industry leaders and prominent figures like Oswal have been adopting 'made-in-India' products into their lives and setting examples for the larger public. Buying the Safari Dark Edition might have been part of it as well.
The Safari that the MSOL chairman has bought, is the outgoing model. It is based on the range-topping Accomplished Plus variant. At the time of writing this article, it has an ex-showroom price of Rs 26.99 lakh. The on-road cost could hover over 32 lakh rupees. It likely has an automatic transmission and could be a six-seater.
More About The Tata Safari Dark Edition
The most important attraction of the Dark edition is its exterior colourway. It gets Oberon Black as its exterior colourway. The grille, headlamps, tail lamps, and alloy wheels (which are 19-inch units) are also dark-themed.
Even the cabin comes with a dark theme. It gets an all-Black colourway, Black leather upholstery and tasteful touches of gloss Black. The Dark edition Safari comes loaded with features. It gets a 10.25-inch full-TFT instrument console, 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system, panoramic sunroof, electronically-adjustable and ventilated front seats, wireless charger, 10-speaker JBL audio system, dual-zone automatic climate control with rear AC vents, ambient lighting, air purifier and even Level 2 ADAS!
The SUV is powered by the Stellantis-sourced 2.0-litre turbocharged diesel engine that makes 170 PS and 350 Nm of torque. Both manual and automatic gearboxes are available on the Safari, depending on the variant opted for.
Another area where the Safari shines is safety. All variants come kitted with features like all-wheel disc brakes, six airbags, ABS with EBD, corner stability control, ESP, hill hold control, ISOFIX child seat anchor points, rear parking sensors, roll-over mitigation and traction control. Global NCAP had previously crash-tested the Harrier and Safari, where bboth scored impressive five-star ratings. Interestingly, these tests were conducted in India.
Later, India's own new car safety assessment program- Bharat NCAP, crash tested the Safari and Harrier again. Even in these tests, both SUVs scored five-star ratings. In the test conducted in December 2023, the Safari scored 30.08 out of 32 in Adult Occupant Protection and 44.54 out of 49 in Child Occupant Protection.