Shah Rukh Khan is only too aware of the fact that car-makers are facing new challenges in ownership where the Ubers and Olas have emerged serious disruptions to reckon with.

“I think we should innovate to become the most driven Hyundai Uber in the world,” he quips. After all, he says the Korean’s offerings are the best with services now available that were not five years ago.

“This is our business, to make cars and innovate them further for usage to become easier for people. Hopefully we will be the most driven car around the world,” says SRK.

The actor believes the changes in car ownership are akin to the interest in watches, which was huge 20-25 years ago but slowly petered down. Today, there is really no compelling reason to wear a watch thanks to other innovations and it is quite likely that over the next 10-15 years, a person may just not need to wear one.

“Cars are a personal choice and driving them is a fantastic experience. I love driving but I do notice, and I am sure Hyundai has too, that the younger generation is not really so much into driving as the older generation,” observes SRK.

He clarifies that this is at least true for his kids where driving is not such an obsession as it was with his generation. “It was such a high getting your first car, get your learner’s license with the ‘L’ on the car,” he fondly reminiscences.

And while his own children may not be kicked about driving, SRK is reasonably sure there are many others around the country who would love to learn to drive their first cars. This also explains why car-makers are increasingly targeting users in smaller cities and towns. The actor then recalls the time he told his son how romantic and cool it was to drive a car only to get a very matter-of-fact response. ‘Papa, you have to pay attention. Don’t teach me wrong things. If I have two hands on the steering wheel, ensure my safety belts are in place and concentrate hard, there is no time for romance’, laughingly narrates the star.

While conceding that there are different points of view, SRK maintains that it is the most romantic thing to go for a romantic drive in a car. “The romance of driving a car will never go,” he says.

In his view, the mobility landscape could change in the next 10-15 years but there could be other innovations like electric vehicles or “roads already charging as you drive, WiFi charging of cars” and kids attaching themselves a lot more to digitised cars. To that extent, cars will be relevant in the years to come.

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