'Office-on-Wheels' limo to ferry businessmen, execs

AHMEDABAD: A 20-feet monster designed by Dilip Chhabria, stretched to an additional four-feet for added comfort. Fully-loaded with fax, scanners, chillers, small conference-cum-coffee table, internet facilities, LCD TV. No, it���s not a plane, it���s not a super-van. It���s the 40-year-old Shashin Shah���s dream ���Office-on-Wheels��� limo to ferry the suits, when they turn up in droves for 'Vibrant Gujarat' in January. In short, it's where the Gujarati meets the motor-ati.

Mr Shah brims with confidence. ���Vibrant Gujarat will take place on January next year, when hundreds of MNC businessmen and executives would visit Ahmedabad in expectation of getting a different treatment,��� says Mr Shah, who is set to import his first limousine at Rs 70 lakh a pop. ���The ���Office-on-wheel��� concept is popular in the US and Europe, and we want to start it in Gujarat," said Mr Shah of CelebzTheLimo.

The interiors and exteriors of the limo will be designed in a manner so as to create the ambience that goes perfectly with the status of stylish businessmen. ���Our car rentals for 12 hours may go up to Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000," says Mr Shah.

Interestingly, having rented out cars for about a year for weddings and birthday parties, Mr Shah found a new business in renting out foreign cars. Last year, he imported a limousine and got it modified by Dilip Chhabria, incurring a total cost of Rs 65 lakh. Then he made it available at Rs 20,000 for 12 hours.

���Our existing limousine has become too popular in marriages and birthday parties, and is going places such as Bardoli, Anand, Bhavnagar, Rajkot and Rajasthan,��� he added. His standalone limo today welcomes celebs and VIPs on their arrival in Ahmedabad. With his new business model, Shah���s pulled up by the kerb to collect some premium pinstripes to add to his VIP dashboard.