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Hyderabad E-Prix: Why Sachin Tendulkar lauded Anand Mahindra's Pininfarina Battista
Sachin, known to be an avid automobile enthusiast, shared pictures of him going for a spin in the Pininfarina Battista
Hyderabad hosted a global motorsport world championship - ABB FIA Formula E - over the weekend, 10 years after the exit of Formula 1 from India. The inaugural 2023 Greenko Hyderabad E-Prix saw the attendance of cricketers Saching Tendulkar, Shikhar Dhawan, celebrities ranging from Ram Charan to Shruti Hassan and Union Ministers Anurag Thakur and Kishan Reddy.
Sachin, known to be an avid automobile enthusiast, shared pictures of him going for a spin in the Pininfarina Battista. The electric supercar designed by Italian firm Pininfarina, owned by India's Mahindra and Mahindra group was praised by Sachin for its high-performance and sustainability. Lauding Indian companies for adopting advanced automobiles, the veteran cricketer said that Pininfarina Battista was the ‘perfect’ answer to the question on the future of electric vehicles. The ride in the supercar, Sachin explained, was time-defying and a window into the future.
“The Pininfarina Battista had the perfect answer for “Are EVs the future?”. It was so fast, we defied time and landed in the future! A wonderful achievement by Anand Mahindra & his team. Heartening to see Indian companies back cutting-edge, world class automobiles,” he tweeted.
Thrilled by Sachin’s words of appreciation, chairman of the Mahindra group, Anand Mahindra, also found a potential tagline for the supercar. Invoking a wordplay around Sachin’s nickname, Anand said that the car could be known as a ‘master blaster on wheels’. “You just gave us a brilliant tagline for the #Battista Sachin. A car that ‘defies time & lands you in the future!’ Wah! That makes it a Master Blaster on wheels. And what a pleasure to have you with us today," he replied.
Notably, Mahindra is the only Indian brand to participate in the Formula E championship and Pininfarina Battista debuted in the country with the Hyderabad E-Prix.
Other prominent personalities who were part of India’s first bigticket all-electric race were Yuzvendra Chahal, Nagarjuna, Dulquer Salmaan. Jean Eric Vergne of DS Penske won the action-packed racing event. The ABB FIA Formula E World is the world’s first all-electric FIA World Championship and the only sport certified net zero carbon since inception.
