India’s First Land Rover Defender Taxi Is Here: The Rolls-Royce Barber Owns It
The Land Rover Defender enjoys huge acceptance in India. It now symbolises class, power and wealth, and has found places in the garages of many celebrities, industrialists and public figures. The carmaker sells three different bodystyles of this SUV here- the 90, 110, and 130- the short wheelbase, standard wheelbase, and long wheelbase, respectively. The 110 is the most popular, while the 130 is a rare find. Do you know what is rarer? A Defender taxi! Now, imagine bumping into a taxi Defender 130 with yellow plates... Well, the famous ‘Rolls Royce Barber’ from Bengaluru owns one!
Many videos of the taxi Defender are available online. One of the most recent ones shows it moving through Bengaluru roads. It is being driven slowly and carefully. It is finished in the dual-tone Fuji Whit-Black colour scheme and has a massive road presence. The cabin wears Black and Tan.
We can also see the luxury SUV’s yellow number plate that reads ‘ KA 03 AL 0006’. Since it is a taxi, this SUV has the number painted on its rear fender as well. This also happens to be the first commercial Defender in India.
The taxi Defender 130, seen here is the D300 variant. It is powered by a 3.0L diesel engine that makes 296hp and 600 Nm of torque. This engine gets mild-hybrid technology as well. The Defender 130 also comes with a four-wheel drive (4WD) system. The SUV commands a rent of Rs 3000 per hour.
For those wondering, this Defender belongs to ‘Ramesh Tours and Travels’- a company offers a lot of luxury car rentals. It also has a famous owner- Ramesh Babu, who is often called ‘Rolls Royce Barber’. He used to be a barber in the early days of his career.
He built the car rental business slowly. In 1994, Ramesh bought his first car- a Maruti Omni, and by 2004, had a fleet of seven cars. Today, his empire has flourished a lot. The fleet has over 200 cars, spanning various segments and price points. The most interesting bit- Ramesh Babu still cuts hair at his salon and charges Rs 100 for the same!
Take a stroll through its website and you will understand that Ramesh Tours and Travels has a lot of exciting luxury cars and SUVs on offer- from Toyota Fortuner to Rolls Royce Ghost and Mercedes Benz G Class. Ramesh was, in fact, one of the first persons in India to offer Rolls Royce as a rental car. Bobby Chemmannur, the famous entrepreneur from Kerala, also offers a Rolls-Royce taxi.
At Ramesh Tours, the Ghost has a rental price of Rs 6000 per hour. Ramesh Babu had bought this car in 2011, paying around 3 Crores. It is powered by a 6.6-liter twin-turbo V12 engine that makes 562 bhp and 780 Nm. The transmission on offer is an eight-speed automatic unit.
The rental charges for the G Wagen is Rs 5,000 per hour. It is the G350d variant, powered by the mighty 2.9-litre straight-six diesel engine that makes 286 hp and 600 Nm.
Other vehicles which can be rented out from this company are the Toyota Vellfire, Toyota Granace, Land Cruiser, Mercedes GLS, Mercedes S Class, BMW 5 Series, 7 series, Audi Q8, Mercedes V Class, E Class, Audi Q7, Fortuner, Kia Carnival, Toyota Innova Crysta, Honda CR-V, Civic and more. Some of these can be had as self-drive rentals too. The portfolio also includes electric vehicles like the Mercedes EQS and BMW i7.