Shah Rukh Khan has many luxury cars in his garage, but the Badshah of Bollywood still loves the Hyundai Santro. He said he is glad that the small car is coming back to India later this year, and that Hyundai should retain the same brand name rather than go for a revamp.
“Santro is my favourite car...Hyundai Motor India Managing Director told me he is keeping it (Santro name). Otherwise, I would have called my third child ‘Santro’," he quipped.
Cleaner fuel
Talking about cleaner fuel technology in cars, the brand ambassador of the South Korean car giant said he will wait for the Hyundai Ioniq, an electric car, to be launched next year. “I think I will wait for Ioniq...I want to take a test drive. Yes, most certainly I would like to buy it than any other brand. Some of them are industry secrets so I don’t know when it will be launched. But, 100 per cent, I would like to get the first hybrid or electric when they launch here,” Khan told BusinessLine at a select media meet.
Khan, who has been Hyundai Motor India’s brand ambassador for 20 years now, also said electric/ hybrid and autonomous cars are the future of the auto industry, although the change will take place through small steps.
Driverless travel
“We will be going a lot more electric in the future and, second, there will be fewer drivers. I think there will be this move to driverless travel. Lesser (number) of kids will learn how to drive, I think more machines will have to take over. But these will have to be safer, cleaner,” he said.
The long-term solutions to the pollution problem have to start immediately, pointed out ‘King Khan’. Asked about the pollution concerns in Delhi, from where he hails, he said pollution isn’t a city-specific issue and it is just unfortunate that Delhi becomes a case in point every time.
“Being a Delhiite, I take that very personally. I think this is the coolest city... I think the electric part of it will have to come into being. So, the faster we can do it, the better,” he said.
Social media trolls
Asked about his views on social media and trolls, Khan said it is a new technology which will take time to settle down. “It’s in a nascent stage... Data analytics, fake news, so much is happening. We assume that it has been there for seven-eight years, it must have settled down. I don’t think it has settled down,” he said, adding that it is just like the auto industry, which took a while to become bigger, from “Fiat, Ambassador, Maruti, Hyundai to many others now”.
CSR programme
Khan was at the Auto Expo to launch Hyundai’s CSR programme on road safety, SwachhCan. Hyundai will promote SwachhCan across the country through its dealers and service workshops.