Who is Lavji Daliya, first Indian to own a Tesla Cybertruck?

A new vehicle on the streets of Surat has caught the attention of its residents - a Tesla Cybertruck. Lavji Daliya, popularly known as Lavji Badshah has bought a Foundation Series Tesla Cybertruck, a limited-production batch of Elon Musk’s company.

Piyush, Daliya's eldest son speaking to The Indian Express has said that this is currently the only Cybertruck in India. “This cybertruck is the only one in India, as per what we checked online. There is no such car imported to India."

The car was booked six month ago at the Tesla showroom in Texas, US. Following due process the car was delivered to Dubai where the road registration was done. The car was then shipped to India via the sea.

The Cybertruck arrived in Surat on Thursday. The base price of the vehicle is said to be Rs 60 lakh.

The family even have emblazoned their company’s name, ‘Gopin’, on the Cybertruck, the publication reported.

Talking about the price of the vehicle, Piyush said, “The logistics charges were huge. The car has seating capacity of five people and after the car landed in Surat, I drove it carrying my parents and my younger brother. It was an awesome experience to drive such a car and we are hopeful that the company would open its showroom in India. The vehicle is in major demand among the car lovers of India.”

The fully automated car takes six hours to fully charge and can run up to 550 kilometers on a single charge. The body of the car is made of stainless steel which has sharp curves, and the tyres are built in such a way it can also run on rough paths, Piyush told the publication.

Piyush added, “At present, we are using this car in Surat and we have not made any journey on the highways or other districts. In the city, wherever we go, around 50 to 100 people gather on the spot to see the car. People are curious to know about the interiors and other aspects of the car. We have to take extra care."

Who is Lavji Daliya?

A real estate mogul, Lavji Daliya is also a diamond merchant and owns a power loom based in Surat, Gujarat.

As per a report by Financial Express, 55-year-old Daliya, originally from Bhavnagar moved to Surat at the age of 13 to work as a diamond polisher before building a successful business empire. He is the founder of Gopin Group, which includes Gopin Developers (real estate), Gopin Foundation (non-profit initiatives), and Gopin Ventures (investments).

His philanthropic work got him the nickname 'Badshah'. In 2017 Daliya provided bank bonds to parents from the Patel (Patidar) community who had more than one daughter under his Badshah Sukanya Smridhi Yojana, according to the report.