Ola Appoints GM veteran Jose Pinheiro To Head Operations Of Electric Business The Indian ridesharing company plans to bring many design and software innovations to its entire product line of two-wheelers as they come to market in the coming months
By Prabhjeet Bhatla •
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Mobility platform Ola on Monday announced it has roped in GM veteran Jose Pinheiro as its head of global manufacturing and operations for its electric business. In this role, Pinheiro will spearhead Ola's ambitions to build world-class manufacturing facilities starting with the world's largest scooter factory, and then expanding to multiple such facilities across India. These manufacturing facilities will enable Ola to rapidly bring to market its wide range of two-wheeler products currently under development.
In his 45-year career, Pinheiro has held diverse portfolios across the company including body shop process engineering, manufacturing engineering, plant operations, director of manufacturing, and then vice-president of manufacturing for the region. His deep manufacturing expertise will be critical in building Ola's entire range of two-wheeler products, starting with the soon to launch electric scooter.
"I am excited to have Jose join our leadership team at Ola. His deep domain expertise will help us deliver the game-changing Ola electric scooter at scale and will help catalyze the Indian EV ecosystem. At Ola, we will continue to strive towards building in India for India and the world. I look forward to working closely with Jose to build our world-class manufacturing facilities and accelerate the world's movement towards sustainable mobility," commented Bhavish Aggarwal, chairman, and group chief executive officer, Ola.
The Ola app offers mobility solutions by connecting customers to drivers and a wide range of vehicles across bikes, auto-rickshaws, metered taxis, and cabs, enabling convenience and transparency for hundreds of millions of consumers and over 2.5 million driver-partners.
"I am thrilled to join Ola Electric and be part of this inspiring vision. I look forward to collaborating with this incredible team and building a world-class manufacturing facility to deliver Ola's range of electric two-wheelers including the upcoming electric scooter. The rapid pace of progress at Ola is impressive and energizing and I am looking forward to contributing to Ola's mission of sustainable mobility. More than anything else I am very excited to be in India and work with this passionate group of people," remarked Pinheiro.
The ridesharing company is serving over 250 cities across India, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK including key global markets such as London and Sydney. Its core mobility offering in India is supplemented by its electric-vehicle arm, Ola Electric, and its fleet management business Ola Fleet Technologies.
The platform also extends its consumer offerings such as micro-insurance and credit-led payments through Ola Financial Services and a range of owned food brands with a network of cloud kitchens through Ola Foods. With strategic acquisitions such as Ridlr and Etergo BV, the company is building mobility solutions for the future.
