Rajiv Bajaj’s comeback to Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal: 'Be careful how much ICE you take on’

Bajaj Auto Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj’s two-year-old comment, "Champions eat OATS for breakfast", is continuing to make the rounds in the automobile industry. Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal recently came up with a response to the witty comment: “If they have OATS for breakfast, I put ICE cubes in my drink...”

When asked what he would say to Aggarwal’s comment, Bajaj said, “It's funny, something I said two years back is still hanging in the air. I met Bhavish Aggarwal once. I like his energy very much. I have positive feelings for him. But I would say this — sometimes if you don't sound too good, maybe you have a bad throat from taking on too much ICE. So, be careful how much ICE you take on at one time.”

Along with the cryptic response, Bajaj underlined that it is the consumer who gives the auto firms the license to make something or take away the license. It is not Rajiv Bajaj or Bhavish Aggarwal or anyone else in the industry or the government who decides for the customer.

This banter started in October 2021, when the Bajaj Auto MD was launching the new Pulsar 250 and said, “We are champions… Champions eat OATS.” By OATS, he meant Ola Electric, Ather Energy, Tork Motors and SmartE — the emerging new-gen EV startups from then.

Bajaj had then said some of the volume manufacturers (TVS, Bajaj Auto and Royal Enfield) make most of the Indian two-wheeler industry and that he would bet on BET (Bajaj, Enfield and TVS).

To this, Tarun Mehta, Ather Energy’s co-founder, had then reacted, saying: “Must say, the OATS and BET acronyms by Rajiv Bajaj made my day today. Never a dull moment in this industry.”

Most recently, in an interview with Forbes India, to a question on what he has for breakfast, Bhavish Aggarwal said: “I put ICE cubes in my drink, and enjoy sipping it." He was, of course, alluding to his ICE (internal combustion engine) rivals. “ICE cubes will melt when we roll out EV cars.”

This remark comes about a month after Ola Electric hosted its "End Ice Age, Part 1" event on August 15 and announced the launch of the Ola S1X EV scooter among other new products.