First among equals
Shahid Kapoor becomes Ratan Tata's first customer for the Jaguar Land Rover
Soumyadipta Banerjee
s_banerjee@dnaindia.net
When Shahid Kapoor booked the car he had been wanting to book all these years, he didn't realize that he was actually the first customer of the Range Rover in India. The realization dawned upon him when he got a call from a senior official of Tata Motors that he is the first one of book it in India.
"He has been driving his Mercedes for too long now. He has always been telling that he wants to own a Jaguar but he didn't want to import the car because he didn't want to let anybody make an issue out of it," says a close friend of the star, indicating the earlier exposure of the Range Rover importing racket scandal that hit several Bollywood stars including Sushmita Sen. After Tata Motors declared that they are importing the car in India, sources say that they immediately received a couple of thousand application from all over the country. Interestingly, Shahid Kapoor was the first customer for the Tatas. "It was such an honour receiving the keys of my car from Ratan Tata. When I was booking the car, I was really not aware that that I am the first. He (Ratan Tata) also congratulated me for being his first customer. This car will always be special to me not only because I always wanted to own a Range Rover but because I was the first one in India to drive it home and it was Ratan Tata who gave the keys to me. I am so so proud," said Shahid, after taking the car keys from Ratan Tata.
"Being in the business that I am in, I need to travel around with a lot of luggage. I am out of the house for long periods of time daily. I have my big Indian family…my parents, my brother, my sister…in this car one can fit almost as many people as one likes. Plus I have a pretty healthy staff (laughs), and to be able to have everyone travel comfortably I needed a bigger car," he adds.
The keys were handed over to Shahid at the Worli showroom of the Tata Motors and the actor immediately took to the wheels after this. He drove around town area for a while before heading for his apartment in Versova where it has pride of place in garage. The Mercedes also stays put for now.
BOX:
From the Jaguar stable, India will get the XF and the XKR models. Priced at around Rs 63 lakh and 92 Lakh respectively (on road prices will vary according to states). The new XJ model that Jaguar has in the pipeline is set for a July 9th debut internationally. Shahid was got the XKR model.