Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Hello and welcome. I'm here to provide acknowledgement of country. For those who don't know me, I'm kj Karen Jackson, director of Moon Balletic. My genealogy tracks back to Moira Lakes in Barma Forest and Mount Hope in Pyramid Hill. Giving me my connections to Yorta, Yorta, and Barra language groups. There's a couple of things I'd like you to take away from my acknowledgement. The first is to remember the hidden history of Aboriginal people since invasion, our loss of language removal from country, and our new extinction from massacres and pandemics. The second is our strong and inherent connection to community and country. These connections have given us the resilience and courage to rebuild our languages, gain access to country, regenerate our cultural practices in acknowledging the traditional owners of the country on which you are now on. I'd like to sincerely thank them for their generosity and kindness in welcoming people onto their lands. Lands never seeded and lands that run deep into their being and spirit. I wish to pay my deep respect to the ancestors, elders, communities, and families of the rung wri on whose land I stand and who create connection and share knowledge with all of us. Thank you.
Speaker 2 00:01:18 Hello, colleagues. It's wonderful to be here with you and welcome to the People of VU podcast. As always, I want to thank Karen Jackson KJ for acknowledging country in a very special way, which we all embrace. And I want to also pay my deep respects to ancestors, elders, families of traditional owners on all of our campuses here in Victoria, in New South Wales, in Queensland, and anyone who may be listening from that amazing background. Thank you. And welcome listeners. It's really a delight because every so often we get to meet some of our alumni who have traveled the world, changed the world, and done things in the world, all three. That is the case today with Vikram Power. And Vikram, welcome to the View Podcast. It's amazing to have you with us.
Speaker 3 00:02:03 Thank you, Adam. Really a pleasure to be here and back to my, as you say, stomping grounds. Right? It's great
Speaker 2 00:02:08 Stoic grounds. Indeed. And of course, you know, when you think about that, stomping is a very active thing. And this year our whole motif is moving with purpose. Well, stomping is definitely doing that, you know? Absolutely. It's, you know, making your mark and you've made your mark in lots of ways. We're going to hear all about Vikram's work currently, his past, his involvement with BMW Group and many other things, but we're gonna get right into it. So, Vikram, you grew up in India before building your career across many countries. I'd love to know a little bit about you as a young person, as a child. You know, did you play a lot with cars? I mean, had you, have you had a, a lifelong fascination with this, this sort of theory?
Speaker 3 00:02:51 I don't think I realized that much later in my life that actually there was a lot of influence in my life with cars. So I'll give you a little bit of background. So I was born in a, in a, in an armed forces family. So my father was aeronautical engineer in the Indian Air Force, and, and he used to love rebuilding cars, right? So he would buy old cars and absolutely rebuild them, right? And, and he would use those us as probably the little helpers. Oh yeah. Probably it by elder brothers. So, so I think probably there was something happening in the brain at that time, kind of absorbing cars, was never passionate about the engines as such. And I, I was never into engineering. But I think just doing that handiwork of repainting cars or resembling cars and putting it back together probably got me into some kind of an excitement about cars, which I realized after I joined a car company. Not before that actually.
Speaker 2 00:03:38 Yeah, that's right. When you often look back and see what the trigger moment was. Yeah. And you said we, how many of you were there? Did you have siblings as well? Yeah, my
Speaker 3 00:03:46 Elder brother and me. Just two of us Did. Two of you with dad, two of us. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 00:03:48 Isn't that great? It's a nice bonding thing for the two of you and with your father too.
Speaker 3 00:03:52 Absolutely. And still cars still bonds us, actually.
Speaker 2 00:03:54 Oh, that's so beautiful. Well, that's often a, an emotive thing. Yeah. People talk and they say cars are one of the few purchases people have, which they name. Absolutely. And Australia's been a bit of a naming place. I I didn't see that so much in Canada, but here it was a real thing.
Speaker 3 00:04:07 Yeah, I think, I think Australia's really passionate about it. Cars, I say we are petrol head country. Yeah, absolutely. We love our cars. And, and I think, yeah, you're right, not many countries do that. They use it as a, a means to go from point A to B, but I think the way we spec our cars, the way we individualize them and Absolutely. We have a brand called Mini as well, and I've seen many people name their minis. Absolutely. That's right. As friends,
Speaker 2 00:04:30 It's definitely a mini me. Absolutely. And they often, you know, take the name to it. Yep. And if it sort of from petrolhead to you might say e head or
Speaker 3 00:04:38 You know, bad, it's, it still a pet patrol head. I call it petrolhead. Doesn't mean the engine as such. It means more about that you're passionate about the car. Exactly. And the performance of the car. How fast the car goes, how fast you can get from zero to hundred. Yep. You know, what, what can you tow? What's the torque? Like, what's the performance curve like? That's, that's there in every car. I would say respective of what technology you're using at the moment. It's
Speaker 2 00:04:59 True. And I look, I remember actually, I worked at a World Expo once in Brisbane and there was a fascinating person who was from the uk and we had something called a con ance, which was like a yes
Speaker 3 00:05:12 Con elegance. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 00:05:13 A wonderful thing where, you know, vintage cars, yes, were paraded, you should see the passion. Have you been to such things?
Speaker 3 00:05:19 Absolutely, I have. Absolutely. Of course. You know, you go to late Lake Como, you, there's one in India that we started actually with Obez, which is the second version just happened this year now. Wow. So there is concourse elegance is absolutely a worldwide phenomena. And if you're really a petrolhead, as I call it, yeah, you've gotta be
Speaker 2 00:05:35 There and a lot of you gotta be there. I, I felt, I've never seen so many polishing rags in my entire life. You know, people were just going mad, you know, with this kind
Speaker 3 00:05:41 Of thing. One fingerprint, it, it's a, it's a mistake. It was, it was no
Speaker 2 00:05:44 Good. Yeah. So back to India, what part of India was it that you grew up in? Or did you move because
Speaker 3 00:05:48 Of your Yeah. Move around because my father, like I said, was in the Air Force. So every three years we would just move around. So maybe that's why for me, moving around countries wasn't a difficult thing either, because we are used to making new friends adopting to new cultures. India is a multicultural country as you know. Even if you move from one city to the other, it can feel like a different country. So yeah. So maybe that's another thing that probably I picked up during my childhood, which I think now my kids have it. And my wife was also from Armed Forces background. She, oh, father was a pilot as well. So, so we both are used to those kind of moving, moving around. And I think maybe that helps us to take those challenges from time to time.
Speaker 2 00:06:24 True mobility. Absolutely. And also flexibility. I That's true. Think it. These go together. And tell me, so if you had a place in India that you consider to be home of all those places, which place is it?
Speaker 3 00:06:35 Well, it's Delhi, of course. Delhi, you know, that's where the grandparents were from. That's where we settled after my father retired. Yeah. And, and, and my brother and my mother are still there. My brother's family is still there and my mother is still there. So Yeah, absolutely. That's home whenever we go back. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:06:49 And look, it's just a hop, skip and a small drive from there to Gurugram where we have our new campus. Yes,
Speaker 3 00:06:55 That's right. I, I had my office in Gurugram. The M BMW India office actually is in just probably close to your campus as I saw it.
Speaker 2 00:07:01 Yeah. Yeah. So look, I can just imagine all these things overlapping in the future in really good ways. So tell me, when you were studying and in school, you probably, you know, were doing various things of interest. Did you have passions or hobbies? What would, what did you love doing?
Speaker 3 00:07:16 Yeah, I mean, I always loved reading. I mean, reading has always been my passion still there. I still read almost three to four books a month, if I can. Especially during travels, that's the best time to spend time on. But yeah, there was also, I was into theater tricks, so I was into theater, not in a professional way, but more in a hobbyist way. And of course you do sports like you do in India, like you gotta play cricket, come on.
Speaker 2 00:07:37 It would be impossible
Speaker 3 00:07:38 To, impossible not to play cricket when you, when you're growing up in India. Right. So we did that bike riding, I did all those things that probably kids don't do these days so much. So, you know, especially we used to be in remote campuses, you know, you can imagine the, you know, air Force units would be really remote way where you have the aircraft and everything else. So, so you would go out, you know, camping, you would go out bike riding, you would go kite flying, you do all that stuff. Wow. That I think my kids miss these days. Probably a bus there. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:08:06 And were, were the schools on those
Speaker 3 00:08:09 Basis? They were on the campus, yeah. They were on basis, absolutely. They were there. Interesting. Smaller schools not that great. And normally you'll go into the city if you into the senior school. Yeah. But that'll always fun going in those little army trucks, huh. So, oh wow. From one place to the other. There's all
Speaker 2 00:08:22 Sorts of things that go in. People don't necessarily see it, but it all exists. Yes, it does. And of course, Australia's the same. Yep. Did you have any contact with other nations at that stage? Or was it just within the country? No,
Speaker 3 00:08:34 That was within the country at that point in time when I was growing up. I think with other nations happened when I started working. Ah-huh.
Speaker 2 00:08:39 Yeah. Yeah. And so let's get to this really interesting moment. There's always moments in life.
Speaker 3 00:08:43 There are
Speaker 2 00:08:44 This moment, this moment when you, you know, aborted a plane, thought of where you'd go first. And how did you end up traveling outside India and where did you go first?
Speaker 3 00:08:54 So my first trip was actually obviously to Japan. I was working for Honda at that time. And you know, there was a work trip almost 15 days I spent in Japan. Got fascinated by the country. Really? That was the first trip outside, outside India. And yeah. And, and, and that probably triggered, that bugging me to travel more and more and understand as many cultures as possible. And then when I, when I, when I actually, and we'll come to that, I'm sure about when I started thinking about doing, doing my further studies, you know, because I started working straight after my bachelor's degree and got into job. Yeah. And then started traveling the world, learning things. I actually went backpacking into the US on the East coast to think whether I'm gonna go and study there. But somehow I didn't like it.
Speaker 2 00:09:35 Yeah. It didn't like what, what did you not like?
Speaker 3 00:09:38 It didn't feel like a warm culture. Mm. It felt very cold and distant culture. It was like very mechanical. It didn't feel real to me. Yes. You know, everything was too big. Yeah, right. It was like mega size and, and you couldn't really relate to it. And I was like, I spent time there almost a month. And I was like, no, I can't find my soul here. Right.
Speaker 2 00:09:56 Well, you gotta know. Yeah,
Speaker 3 00:09:57 Absolutely. You, you, you gotta connect to a place if you're gonna spend some time there. So, so, but it was good fun. It was great country must say, really. I mean, the way people worked there, the ethics there, because I got to know the American people later on when I started working with them as well. Especially when I worked with Harley Davidson and the American company. I mean, clearly result oriented, absolutely want to achieve something, they'll go after it. So really great work ethics there that you can learn from. But as a country to go and sit and study, maybe, maybe I didn't like, maybe, maybe because I went to the east coast, maybe I should have gone to the vis coast. I might have liked culture.
Speaker 2 00:10:29 Every coast. Every coast is different. Exactly.
Speaker 3 00:10:31 Exactly. So, so it was lucky that I went to the UK as well. Tried to look at whether I should do some time there. No, didn't like that either. Yeah. And then when I came to Australia, actually that's the time when I said, okay, this is where I'll be. So what
Speaker 2 00:10:43 Age were you when you first landed
Speaker 3 00:10:45 Here? I was pretty, I, I think I was on 29th.
Speaker 2 00:10:47 29th. Perfect. And so do you recall how you felt when you say it was different? What was different?
Speaker 3 00:10:53 I think it felt like some, some place you could spend, because I mean, I had to decide I was gonna take a sabbatical from my work and spend almost one and a half, two years of my life just studying and, and, and trying to find my, my place in some sense of what am I gonna do next. Right. So I think from that perspective, it felt really comfortable that, you know, the country had that ecosystem to be able to give you that platform to be able to come and study. And Absolutely. At that time, also 20 years ago, I'm talking about this, it was still a multicultural society. Yes. And I think that felt a little bit more comfortable as well, that you know, you're coming absolutely from a different background. You could see people from different backgrounds coming in and merging together. And that felt good.
Speaker 2 00:11:32 Well it is a remarkable thing how many people do and have come lived and thrive together in that very fluid way. Absolutely. You know, it's a wonderful thing.
Speaker 3 00:11:41 Absolutely. It just knits together. Yeah. It just knits together world. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:11:44 And tell us, because I, I have to why Vu? How did you choose?
Speaker 3 00:11:48 Oh, okay. Well few friends were already studying here, so maybe their referred that was, was really good. And also, honestly at that point in time, it was more about the content of the study that I was more keen in. Yes. Not so much the university. And I think the program of the MBA, the way it was structured and the way you could tailor it to your own, you could go with the research path. It was the last term. You could, you could do it in a condensed fashion over one year if you wanted to. Yeah, right. So the, all those flexibility really gave me that confidence that, yeah, okay, this is what I like because it's, for me, it was about learning not just the degree. Yes. And that that was what I was interested in because I was already in a good job, well-paid job. So it was more about the hunger to learn something that will help me in longer term. And I think the way the courses were structured at VU was really good. Terrific.
Speaker 2 00:12:34 We've always been very, shall we say, purposeful about structure design. Yep. If you like, pedagogies is the word, which people sometimes use for the way that we learn. But of course this is before, you know, block model was invented. But in a way MBA was almost like a precursor to that, you know, the group based learning, the kind of different paces, the getting to know people and working with them in a peer-based way. What did anyone stand out for you in that, you know, either academics or other colleagues?
Speaker 3 00:12:59 Oh, I think, I think it was the most wonderful experience of my life. I still got friends from that time that are we, we are still in touch and we still catch up and talk about those wonderful time. And especially about the group studies you're talking about. You know, how you do is that cohorts and, and you're forced to not work with the same people. Yes. You're forced to literally by design, to work with different people, with different communities. And that gives you a lot of learning experience. And I think that's really stands out for me and and feel of the, you know, the professors that were there were absolutely wonderful as well. Oh, that's so good. Learned a lot. Learned a lot. Challenge them a lot as well because probably I was a little bit more experienced in the, in the cohort compared to anybody else. So I would challenge them on some of the business topics and it was a good, good interaction, but they took it in the right spirit and it was wonderful learning must say. Yeah. And it
Speaker 2 00:13:41 Was also wonderful to have you for the other students. I'm sure they appreciated that very much.
Speaker 3 00:13:46 I hope so.
Speaker 2 00:13:47 You know, like at always different levels of things. So when you think about it, some people say blithely you can't pick your family, but in fact you can't pick your group. Yes.
Speaker 3 00:13:55 You can either.
Speaker 2 00:13:55 Yes you can. You know. Yeah. You give it and the group, you whatever group it is, you make the most of it. Absolutely. And it sounds like that's what you did regardless of the challenge. It just, you let it form, which is really, really good. Now tell me at the time with whom were you working? Was that BMW phase?
Speaker 3 00:14:09 No, this was the Honda phase. Honda phase of my life. So, so I was working in Honda, India and then I took a sabbatical because you know, I had that one of those, you know, kind of moments in life as you mentioned that I was sitting in a management course, a residential three months management course in one of the big institutes in India. I don't know whether you know about it. It's called Indian Institute of Management in Amda Budd. Yes. One of the biggest management institutes of the world. And they had, they have a tie for Harvard. So when I was doing this three months residential course, we spent three months in doing case studies of Harvard. You know, so, so you're learning through case studies basically. And that's when I realized that, that maybe I should have done my masters, right? Yes. Maybe that's the knowledge that I'm missing, even though this is giving me some kind of input for my life, but maybe a formal education might help me in structuring my thought a little bit better. And that's why I started hunting for where do I go for my MBA. Great. So Yeah, absolutely. So I think, I think really those moments really matter, I must say. And, and I think I'm really grateful that I got the opportunity to be able to come in here and actually do that kind of a study.
Speaker 2 00:15:12 And also, I imagine you were very grateful to Honda too.
Speaker 3 00:15:15 Yes, I'm too. And some, at that time, sabbatical wasn't a common thing That's right. In this world. Absolutely. You're right. It's your right to have a sabbatical. Yeah. In those days in India it wasn't, it wasn't the case. But to, for the management to allow me to do that, maybe they saw something in me. And then when I came here, I actually started working part-time with them as well. Isn't in Australia. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 00:15:34 Fantastic. Yeah. Well, we're very much in favor of this idea of, you know, the interpolation of industry and learning at the same time. Yeah. Not either or, but both. And I think you, it's a
Speaker 3 00:15:44 Parallel, it's a parallel thing. Absolutely. That's how you are learning. You can, whatever you're learning in the classroom, you can go and adapt in, in, in, in the work environment straight away. I think that works beautifully.
Speaker 2 00:15:52 Absolutely. It's so great to hear that you, you know, that was the, the genesis of all that. Yeah. So let's just imagine, I want you to go back and tell me, my God, all these different companies. Yeah. What was the first car you ever owned?
Speaker 3 00:16:03 It wasn't a Honda. It wasn't a BMW, it was a Suzuki actually. Yeah. So that, that was the first car you would own in India. A really small 800 cz, single cylinder, you know, car. Not that powerful, but really stylish Yes. For those times. So yeah, that was the first car I owned and managed to get you rent. And that's the only car I owned by the way. Wow.
Speaker 2 00:16:20 Interesting. Oh, that's good. 'cause I have to confess, the first car I've owned was a even smaller 540 cc. And it was a Suzuki hatch with a one of the rear, you know, doors that went up.
Speaker 3 00:16:32 Yeah, the mirror, the, the, the, the, the glass here. Same one. Same, same. Yeah. Same. Exactly the same, same cylinder.
Speaker 2 00:16:37 Absolutely. And you could actually modify as a, a delivery vehicle and park in commercial spots, which was very handy as a student.
Speaker 3 00:16:45 You could, you could multitask,
Speaker 2 00:16:46 You could do all these different things, you know, do absolutely do a day job in
Speaker 3 00:16:49 A Absolutely. I didn't, I didn't use it for that. I did use for my traveling and things like that, but not for deliveries. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:16:53 It was really, it was really handy. So the automotive industry, what had changed, it's, we, we've seen from, you know, orbits in North America. Yep. Through, of course Germany was always a leading place and others, France and so on. Now the rise of China, of course Japan. So let's just imagine here we are in, you know, 2026, where do you see that orbit going? It's amazing. Right?
Speaker 3 00:17:13 So I think you gotta look back to look ahead. So if you look back last 50 years of our industry, you're right, you know, there was dominance of Europe and Americas on it, right? And then you had the Japanese manufacturer coming in, everybody doubted that they made a place for themselves. They created their identity for themselves. And the industry grew. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:17:33 Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:17:33 And then you had the Koreans coming in absolutely the same way. A lot of doubts, a lot of cushion mark, but again, a new identity form industry group. Yeah. So we're sitting at 80 million units that get sold across the world now. Yes. In cars. Right. So that's a big industry. Now you have the China wave coming through. Absolutely. Again, new, new identity, a lot of doubts. New technology too as well. So there's a mix of two things that are happening, not just a new geopolitical or geo entity, but more about a new technology combined with the geo entity as well. So, so that makes it a little bit more complex. The industry is growing, but at a very small pace at the moment, as we know. I mean, that's gotta to do with some of the economic situations across the world. But I think what happens with anything new coming in, people have more choices. Yeah. And, and as consumers, I know, and I'm sure you'll agree with me, Adam, that the more choices we have, the more we spin.
Speaker 2 00:18:27 Well there is that.
Speaker 3 00:18:28 So, so it'll probably end up in growing the economy over the longer term. I feel that, which is good.
Speaker 2 00:18:33 And do you notice that even, and we'll talk about, you know, environmental impacts and of course the Middle East wars and so on, all of this has had an impact on driving different sorts of vehicle sales towards, you know, e vehicles and plugin hybrids and so on. Yes. I mean, how do you see that? Is that something which is inevitable and it's just gonna pick up pace?
Speaker 3 00:18:49 I, I think it was always inevitable and, and we as BMW as I know, we always knew that people will need different technologies for different purposes. Right. Every use case is gonna be different and everybody is not gonna adapt to only one technology. That's why around seven, eight years ago, we absolutely decided to invest in multiple technologies. Yeah. And we were the actually one of the first companies to introduce EVs back in 2013. Right. Bly was very bold at that time to introduce a fully electric vehicle, the I three at that point in time, which people said, oh, it's not for this time. And we said, that's okay. Yeah. And the point is that we want to spend time in, in really understanding this technology because it'll become a reality sooner or later. Yeah. And now if you look at it, we are already into a sixth generation battery technology.
Speaker 3 00:19:31 People are starting with their first one. We are already on the sixth one. So for us it was always gonna be there. I think what's happened now in recent time, the Middle East crisis probably, you know, where the fuel prices went up and, and as we always do in Australia, it was COVID. We created a toilet paper crisis and now we create a, what we call as a EV crisis, right? Yeah. Because we, we, we immediately adopted the new trend, and I think people just started adopting EV when the fuel prices went up. Because if you look at prem March, 2026, EV at best for the industry was around 8%, seven to 8%. Now you're looking at 20%. Yeah. Yeah. We as BIM deliver already at 20% last year. Right. So we could see the trend ahead of curve. So we, we are really taking advantage of that situation now because we have a great lineup Yes. Of products coming through. So yeah, I think EV's here to stay, and I was having a chat before this session as well as that, but it'll normalize at some point in time. Right? Yeah. Because maybe people are making a decision about a EV at this point in time just because of the fuel prices. Finally, a car purchase has to be based on a decision should be based on your total cost of ownership, based on your use case.
Speaker 2 00:20:42 Yes. Yes.
Speaker 3 00:20:43 If you remember way back, people started adopting to diesel. Yes. Even though they were not, you know, pulling a caravan or a boat behind the car, but they just bought a diesel because everybody was buying one. But then later on people realize it doesn't make sense in paying that much more because you're not able to utilize it the way it's supposed to be. So I think it'll balance it out at some point. Yes. But it's good, I would say good for the country to have a good balance of fleet between the traditional engines, the hybrids, and, and the full electric vehicles. Yeah. Because I think that balances the environmental impact as, as you just mentioned before as well, which
Speaker 2 00:21:15 Is a, a, a really important for our research that we do here too at vu, we're always looking at ways in which you could enhance or minimize the footprint, you know, or in this case the wheel print, if you wanna put it that way, which is important as well. So what advice would you give to students who are wanting to build an international career like you have had?
Speaker 3 00:21:33 I think first of all, I would say that you have to invest in yourself, right? So, so it's not just getting a degree, but make sure you're investing in yourself, bringing up your capabilities to be able to address that environment of international career, right? 'cause international career requires a lot of adaptability, flexibility, and understanding different cultures, you can always argue that you have a style and you will not change your style, which is okay, but I think in a world environment, you have to understand the context that you're working in. Yeah. Right? So there, there, it's not that people want to work differently in different countries or in different cultures, but the, the way the, the structure of the country is, or, or I would say the fabric of the country is there is certain ways, certain things are done. And I think understanding that nuance is very critical.
Speaker 3 00:22:23 Like, you know, the way you would work in India, I can give you example that I can go and, you know, maybe ask somebody that I want this report by tomorrow, and I can use that word so loudly by saying tomorrow like that yes. Maybe I may not be able to use that in Australia that way. Right? So, so you gotta understand that little bit of nuance that Yeah. You might have to say, okay, is it possible to get this report by tomorrow? It's not that your objective is changing or your mission is changing as you already want do. Yeah. But you need to pick up that little bit of nuance. So first of all, invest in yourself. If you wanna go international, make sure you understand the country, you understand how to work in it and adopt yourself to it. Yeah. And you gotta be careful.
Speaker 3 00:22:58 I'm not saying you change your identity, right? It's not, I'm not asking that you go and you change your name to adopt to it or something like that, but you adapt to the way of working so that you are able to get the things done the same way as you're doing in your own country, right? Yeah. Read travel. Yeah. Okay. Be bold. A lot of people want to go international only if they get growth. I mean, I've, I've gone international many times and actually stepped back, including with my family when, you know, thanks to my wife especially for supporting that, I don't think we would've done that ever. That we actually went from a huge, you know, two level house in Australia to a small apartment in, in, in, in, in Delhi. Yeah. Right. Moving that and we literally couldn't fit all our furniture back into the house. Imagine you, you know, and you having two kids at that time, it's not an easy thing either. So yeah. Those kind of things you'll have to trade off. Yeah. If you want an international career, because like I said, that's part of investing in yourself, right? Investing doesn't, doesn't mean that you learn. Invest means you sacrifice, you know, you do things that people won't do otherwise and that's what gives you a little bit more leverage in the industry, I would say. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:24:02 And you know, I, I get three key things from you. We have very strong sense of buoyant optimism, a very profound work ethic and a belief in the future. Those three things come together. Always. Every question I've answered or asked, you've answered in a way that sort of knits though that triad. Do you try and do the same thing with your own children?
Speaker 3 00:24:22 That's a difficult thing. Work life is different than personal life. Yeah. You know, so kids, kids got, kids have got a choice not to listen to me, by the way. Right, that's true. So that's a little bit different. But yeah, I do try to give them whatever values I've learned, but I, I would say that, I mean like my father did or like my wife does as well as we let them be their own individuals, they need to find their own way as well. Yeah, of course. We are there to guide them and make sure they don't do, you know, wrong choices, they don't make a wrong choice and then do something which will harm them longer term. Yeah. I think that's all you can do. We can give all the learning we have. I still remember, and me and my wife were having this debate the other day that now we are sounding like our parents because Yeah. Because we are getting the same response as we used to give to our parents that you remember. Of course we now we remember, not, not earlier, but now we remember that maybe we felt the same thing that, you know, that maybe they don't understand us. You know, there's this generation gap and I think we feel the same thing now. Yeah. That maybe they feel that we don't understand them either. So it's interesting how, how things develop. But, but the good thing at least now is that there's a lot of resources for kids to learn as well. True.
Speaker 2 00:25:25 Yeah,
Speaker 3 00:25:26 That's right. In our time, you know, there was nothing on mentorship, there was no internet. I was still having a chat with your colleagues earlier that, you know, I belong to the era where we moved from fax to emails. Right. Yeah. So, so
Speaker 2 00:25:37 A big transition. Yeah,
Speaker 3 00:25:38 It's a big transition for us. And now AI is a big transition for this generation, for that matter. But, but anyway, the point is that, you know, that you gotta, you gotta just absorb whatever you got and finally make your own way in the end. So that's what it should be and that's why also I hope my kids will do as well. That's
Speaker 2 00:25:54 Great. Well, we've been speaking about generations, I just want to have three moments. The first time you ever went to the BMW site, historical site, the museum, how did you feel?
Speaker 3 00:26:04 Oh, that's, it's like, oh, for a petrol head that is, that is the ultimate place to go. Must you know, because you got so much of history there, 110 years of history now there about the first car, the first, you know, we six engine, the, the, the B four engines and all those kind of things and, and the design of the cars. You look at the old E 46, the e thirties, you just get lost in there. You can spend the whole day without realizing how the time passed actually, you know, there's so many things to see. And, and actually I've been to the original site where Bim BMW started as well, which is now the classic, you know, where all the classics are stored. Actually I was there last week, by the way, for a meeting as well. And, and every time I go out there, I just try to pop in and look at all the cars, just have a quick run. You just get excited looking at all those old cars, right? I mean, I, I don't think the cars have that character, what they used to have originally. Yeah. I think it's becoming more and more homogeneous now. But earlier they were very heterogeneous cars that you would see on the road.
Speaker 2 00:27:00 So you're very interested in history and the future of course. How do you read the future for BMW?
Speaker 3 00:27:05 I think BMW has got, its, its footing, right? Because I think we've invested in the right things. We didn't bet on one technology the other, A lot of people called us crazy five years ago, especially the stock markets and, and the investor called us a little bit crazy earlier at that point in time. But I think our board of management in Germany was very visionary in seeing that finally customers are the one who will choose, not the industry, who will choose what technology exists. So, so yeah, it does hurt it a little bit in multiple investments, but I think what really, really helps is that we have that choice for customers right now, right? They can choose from any technology, be it petrol, diesel, plugin, hybrid, electric, and even hydrogen is coming soon in a couple of years. So the people will choose based on what, what is required for them. And I think that way if customers want us, we will exist. I think that that's what I feel is that the right thing for us to keep on looking at the customers we are delivering what customers need for their mobility need, we will exist.
Speaker 2 00:28:07 And you know, a lot of people say reputation isn't just sought it's earned. It
Speaker 3 00:28:11 Is earned. Absolutely. And especially in auto industry, it is on and actually having interaction for journalists this week. And one of the topics that they asked me is that, what do you think a brand is? And, and, and my answer to them is gonna be more about a brand is a trust that you built over years and years with your customers and not just one time transaction. Correct. And so the lifecycle that you build trust over generations that you build trust is what a brand becomes to, you
Speaker 2 00:28:36 Know, you sound like you've just described a university,
Speaker 3 00:28:38 There
Speaker 2 00:28:39 You go as well. You know? Absolutely.
Speaker 3 00:28:40 There's a lot there, which is the same thing at a university,
Speaker 2 00:28:42 Multi, multi-generational. We're going to have a little bit of a challenge, which we're gonna throw open, we've already said it, and we wanna find out the family members and or the family where there's the highest number of members of that family who have studied at Victoria University over time and you know, it's growing.
Speaker 3 00:28:58 Absolutely.
Speaker 2 00:28:58 So that's the challenge that's out there. And the podcast help helps to ripple this challenge out as well.
Speaker 3 00:29:03 Yeah, that's, well that's really right. Even we, we still try to find out how many people have bought how many cars from us. So really, but that, that's something for all of us to keep on exploring
Speaker 2 00:29:11 Quite a, quite a similar thing. Yeah. So my, my final one is to bring it back, is gratitude to say the term alumni isn't just a person who belonged in the past. It's a person who belongs now and into the future just as one would own relationships or look at the photographs of a family. We're so proud of the fact that you study with us, but have changed this place when you were there now and into the future. We're so grateful to you. Vikram, thank you very much for the podcast.
Speaker 3 00:29:37 My pleasure. Thank you for inviting me, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to come and talk about my experience and also about my time in Vu. I mean, it's really good to be back in the campus. You're always welcome. Thanks again. Thank you.
