Bhavish Aggarwal with the Ola S1 electric scooter
Bengaluru: Bhavish Aggarwal, the CEO of Ola Electric, has expressed his displeasure and demanded an apology from an undisclosed auto journalist for the leak of confidential images of the company's upcoming electric scooters before the official launch.
Scheduled for August 15, Ola Electric is on the verge of unveiling an affordable electric scooter. Several media outlets have already reported on the impending launch, and the company itself had provided hints in the preceding days. Ola Electric even arranged an exclusive preview of their forthcoming product for the media prior to the official launch next week.
However, during this preview event, an anonymous journalist reportedly released confidential images of the upcoming electric vehicle (EV) before the company's official announcement. This act has stirred the ire of Aggarwal, prompting him to take to Twitter to voice his frustration and disappointment.
"These images were part of an auto media event we held today and content from this event was supposed to be embargoed and confidential. Auto media does their own credibility a massive disservice when they sneakily take photos at a confidential event. Breaks the trust the brand places in them," he tweeted.
Expressing his strong disapproval, the co-founder of Ola reiterated, "We work really hard to make great products and entertaining events for our customers and delight them. Such instances can't have any place in a mature ecosystem."
In his statement, Aggarwal also demanded an apology from the journalist responsible and issued a caution that the company might reconsider revealing its products to the media prior to their official launch for customers in the future.
"Unless it is clear who did this and an apology (which is unlikely), we will not have auto journalists being showcased our products before launch going forward. They will be shown the products only after customers are shown products at launch events," he asserted.
Although Ola Electric has not divulged specific details about the speculated upcoming S1X model, reports indicate that it is anticipated to be priced below Rs 1 lakh. Allegedly, the e-scooter will boast a range of 100 km on a single charge. Ola Electric's current offerings encompass the S1 Pro, S1, and S1 Air electric scooters.