Mahindra offers vehicle to Indian villager who built a Dh3,000 car

Owner of India’s Mahindra vehicles Anand Mahindra offered to present a vehicle to a villager who built a four-wheeler from scraps at a mere cost of Rs60,000 (Dh3,000).

Mahindra shared a video of the small four-wheeler built by Dattatraya Lohar from the Maharashtra state of India.

“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,” Mahindra said in a tweet, while sharing the video.

In a second tweet, Mahindra offered him a Bolero, one of the popular vehicles of his company, in exchange of the vehicle built by Lohar. He also said Lohar’s vehicle will be displayed at Mahindra Research Valley.

“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 Mahindra Research Valley to inspire us, since ‘resourcefulness’ means doing more with less resources,” Mahindra said.

Lohar, a blacksmith from the Devrashtre village of Maharashtra, decided to make a car after his daughter asked him to buy a car. To build the kick-start car, he used a two-wheeler engine, jeep structure and rickshaw tyres. Other parts of the car were created in his workshop, using scrap materials. He told Indian media that the car that can accommodate five passengers was built in one year.

• India