Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, a part of the USD 19.4 billion Mahindra Group, has announced that its very first all-new Thar #1 has successfully raised Rs. 1.11 crore through an online auction, that witnessed almost 5,500 registrations from nearly 550 locations across the country.
Mahindra has matched the amount raised at the auction and the total proceeds of Rs 2.22 crore will be donated towards COVID-19 relief work.
The winning bid was placed by Aakash Minda from New Delhi at Rs 1.11 crore, over 4 times the auction reserve price which was set at Rs 25 lakhs. The winner has chosen Swades Foundation to receive the entire proceeds from the auction and support COVID-19 relief work.
The hard-fought auction garnered interest among several bidders, including those from big cities and small towns, across every corner of the country. Bidders were spread across locations such as New Delhi, Chikmaglur (Karnataka), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Ernakulum (Kerala), Medinipur (West Bengal), Rajkot (Gujarat) Ballia (Uttar Pradesh), Pathanamthitta (Kerala), Jorhat (Assam), Tirunelveli (Tamil Nadu), Bhagalpur (Bihar), Bilaspur (Chattisgarh), Ganganagar (Rajasthan), Kohima (Nagaland), amongst several others and they bid actively over a period of 6 days.
To put it in perspective, there were 37 bidders who put their top bid value at more than Rs 50 lakhs and 4 bidders put their top bids at over Rs 1 crore. The total value of the unique top bids by the bidders amounted to Rs. 35,70,75,000 while the value of all bids received was at Rs 105,09,00,000.
Pawan Goenka, MD & CEO, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. mentioned, “I would like to congratulate Aakash Minda, the winner of the most coveted All-New Thar#1. It is heartening to see the interest and generosity that this auction for the All-New Thar#1 has garnered from across every corner of the country. For Mahindra, this is a historic moment and given the huge interest around the All-New Thar, we believe that we have created a product that our customers would be proud to own.”
Goenka further added, “We will be contributing an amount equal to the bid amount, to the Swades Foundation, which is the winner’s charity of choice. I hope that our auction makes a difference to all those who need this fund the most and at the same time offer the first owner his dream drive”.
The winning bid brings a successful end to the All-New Thar #1 auction. Online registrations for the auction opened on September 19, 2020, while the auction began on September 24, 2020 and concluded at 6pm on September 29, 2020.
