Does Anand Mahindra drive BMW, Mercedes instead of Mahindra cars? Billionaire says THIS on viral social media claim

Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra has debunked a widely circulated social media post that claimed that he prefers driving luxury vehicles such as BMW and Mercedes over his own ‘Made in India’ cars made by his own company.

Here's what happened

On September 1, a user named Ratan Dhillon took to X and tweeted, “Given Mr. Anand Mahindra’s strong advocacy for “Made in India,” why does he opt to drive BMW and Mercedes cars instead of a Mahindra Thar, which is built by his own company?”

This post went viral and has garnered 337.3K views and about 1K comments on X.

In response to the viral claim, Hormazad Sorabjee, Editor of Autocar India, highlighted Anand Mahindra's longstanding commitment to driving only Mahindra vehicles for over 30 years. He also pointed out that Anand Mahindra has consistently driven Mahindra models.

He said, “Given Mr. Anand Mahindra’s strong advocacy for “Made in India,” why does he opt to drive BMW and Mercedes cars instead of a Mahindra Thar, which is built by his own company? @anandmahindra"

What did Anand Mahindra say on the viral post claim?

In a post on X, Anand Mahindra later clarified that his mother had taught him to drive in her light blue Premier car, nicknamed 'BlueBird,' and he later used a soft-top Mahindra CJ3 UV from their Kodagu home.

He later added that upon joining M&M in 1991, he was given a Hindustan Motors Contessa but quickly switched to the hard-top Armada when it became available. Over the years, he has driven a Bolero, a Scorpio Classic, an XUV 500, and now a red Scorpio N, occasionally using his wife's silver XUV 700.

He wrote, “I was taught how to drive by my mother, in her light sky-blue colour Premier car (earlier known as Fiat) which she had nicknamed: ‘BlueBird’ I then also began using our soft-top Mahindra CJ3 UV which was in our home in Kodagu.

He then continued, "When I joined M&M in ‘91, the company car allotted to me was a Hindustan Motors Contessa. The moment we produced the hard-top Armada, I switched to using that. And then, over the years at Mahindra, I moved to a Bolero, a Scorpio Classic, an XUV 5OO and finally to a Red Scorpio N which I now use. Occasionally, I pinch my wife’s silver XUV 7OO!

"Since the Armada, I have NEVER owned or used any car of another brand. It is a matter of enormous pride & joy for me to use a car built by our own company,” he added.

Speaking on the photo shared by Rattan Dhillon, Anand Mahindra clarified, “In the post you refer to, a picture of me in Autocar magazine has been used, which shows me sitting in front of a foreign car. That photo was taken at the Monterey car week, when we were launching our Battista electric hypercar. The car behind me in the photo is the classic, vintage Cisitalia, designed by Pininfarina—a Mahindra company)”