Statement of the car producer Tatra regarding the Indian MoD´s decision on VAEPL

PRAGUE, Sept. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Ministry of Defence of India on 24th of August 2020 announced its decision to prohibit further business activities of the company Vectra Advanced Engineering Pvt. Ltd. (VAEPL) related to the entrepreneur Ravinder Kumar Rishi, former shareholder of the Czech company TATRA a.s., which used to own the car producer TATRA until the year 2013. Current owner of the carmaker, Czech company TATRA TRUCKS a.s. co-owned by Czech entrepreneurs Michal Strnad and René Matera politely asks Indian media to take into account and hopefully inform in their articles and reports, that carmaker TATRA is no longer in wrong hands which is the reality for more than seven years already.

Pavel Lazar, CEO of TATRA TRUCKS, says: "We learned recently about the decision of Ministry of Defence of India to prohibit further business activities of the company VAEPL. On one hand we can be happy that justice in the business world in this particular case prevails. On the other hand it reopened the old wounds which TATRA suffered on the Indian market. Our trucks are superb products uniquely suited for harsh environment and difficult missions. We are sad that the public image of our products is still influenced by the failure of people which used to represent TATRA on the Indian market a long time ago."

TATRA, the oldest factory with continuous production of transport vehicles, have already payed dearly for what happened. In 2013 Tatra, partly as the consequence of the corruption scandal in India, went nearly bankrupt and was overtaken via auction by the new owners, Czech entrepreneurs Jaroslav Strnad and René Matera. The current owners and management, with great help of the authorities including the Czech ministry of defence and the Czech embassy in India, worked incredibly hard to repair the reputational damage in India and return to this prestigious market. Pavel Lazar adds: "We believe that the proven long-term cooperation with our respected Indian partner, the BEML company, will be beneficial for both Tatra and its Indian clients not only in the military but also in the civil market."

web: www.tatra.cz