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Meet the chairman of Rolls Royce, which manufactures engines for BMW. He has a net worth of Rs 29,800 crore and the business is valued at
Story by: koshik kumar
The 78-year-old entrepreneur, who was born into a Jain family, also runs the auto components company Jayahind Industries. He was previously the managing director of Force Motors until 2009 when he handed over the reins to his son Prasan.
Abhay Firodia, the chairman of Force Motors, a well-known maker of vans, pickup vehicles, and SUVs, is a well-known business personality in India. The firm, founded in 1958 by his late father Navalmal Firodia, has expanded its portfolio to encompass engine manufacture for prominent brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Rolls Royce.
Forbes estimates Abhay Firodia’s net worth to be USD 3.6 billion (about Rs 29,800 crore) as of December 24, 2023. Currently rated 817th on the global list of richest people, he was placed 67th on India’s Richest list in 2022. The majority of his fortune is derived from his ownership of multiple Bajaj enterprises, primarily Bajaj Auto.
Force Motors, led by Firodia, has a market valuation of roughly Rs 4760.12 crore. The firm was first known as Bajaj Tempo during its joint venture with the Bajaj dynasty, but it has grown under Firodia’s leadership.
The 78-year-old entrepreneur, who was born into a Jain family, also runs the auto components company Jayahind Industries. He was previously the managing director of Force Motors until 2009, when he handed over the reigns to his son Prasan. Firodia, a Fergusson College alumni, now lives in Pune after finishing his education in Gwalior and earning a BE (Hons.) in Economics. His influence goes beyond the automobile business, since he has four children.
“It’s something you can’t plan for,” Müller-tvös says of taking over such a historic brand. When he joined the BMW Group in 1989, he was “massively involved in branding discussions with Rover, when BMW acquired the Rover Group,” he says, adding that he also helped relaunch Mini. “That brought me deeply into British brands,” he said, “also learning a lot about how special they are, how emotional they are, how carefully curated they are, and how carefully you, yourself, need to curate them, otherwise you could fail in really positioning them properly in the world.” “It was the right moment in time,” he recalls, when he was contacted to skipper Rolls-Royce. “That’s something I didn’t need to sleep on.”
During that time, however, the manufacturer was in risk of losing relevance as its client base became older. The typical Rolls-Royce owner, according to Müller-tvös, was 56 years old. In response, he sought guidance from a number of private banks and listened to their forecasts for how the landscape of ultra-high-net-worth individuals will change in the future years. “They gave me some remarkable insights . . . and it happened as they forecasted” he said.
His main conclusion was that the top echelon will be growing much younger. With this information, Müller-tvös understood there had to be a corporate change. “When I took the helm, it was 80 percent chauffeur-driven and 20 percent self-driving-now, it’s completely the opposite,” he adds of the brand’s current situation. The debut of the two-door Wraith was followed soon by the second version of the current Ghost sedan, which went on to become the most commercially successful model in the Rolls-Royce pantheon. Then there came Dawn, a two-door convertible that launched in 2016 and attracted a bigger percentage of women.
Then there came Dawn, a two-door convertible that launched in 2016 and attracted a bigger percentage of women. The decidedly edgy (at least by Rolls standards) Black Badge trim option debuted the same year, originally on the Wraith.
Müller-tvös got the concept for the Black Badge after noticing that some owners were already giving their automobiles a more visually aggressive look by blacking off distinguishing components. “Why not create the alter ego of Sir Henry Royce, and create a more menacing, darker character and positioning of the brand,” he said. “That was super successful for us in reaching out to a completely new breed of clients.”
This shift is one of the causes that has lowered the average age of Rolls-Royce owners to 43, which is lower than that of Mini. It’s even younger for those who purchase the most recent Ghost, which has been entirely redesigned in time to be crowned the Robb Report Luxury Car of the Year in 2021. But it doesn’t mean the elder guard was unsatisfied. Müller-tvös oversaw the eighth generation of the flagship Phantom, as well as a revival of coachbuilt specimens such as the eight-figure Boat Tail projects.
His impact on the marque is probably most permanent on two fronts: establishing an SUV (or high-sided vehicle in Rolls-Royce vernacular) and ushering in the era of electricity with Spectre. Those requirements, which were first received with skepticism and criticism from some, were adjusted via lengthy talks with the client base, with whom he interacted on a regular basis.
“I will miss Torsten dearly,” says noted auto collector Michael Fux. “Despite my requests for some zany colors, Torsten really ‘got me’ from the start of our relationship.” Torsten, notably the Mille Miglia race, and getting my Rolls Royces from him at Pebble Beach are two of my favorite memories.”
Müller-tvös may be giving over the reins to Brownridge and making more time for fly-fishing and boating, but he will undoubtedly continue to be involved in advising and “non-executive roles,” though he is unclear where at the present. What he can absolutely say is if he has any regrets about his term. “None. “I’m serious,” he says. “Looking in hindsight, I would not change anything.”
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