Nav Bhatia, Raptors Superfan, turned down Global Indian Award in support of the farmers' Protest
Bhatia is the owner of one of the top-selling Hyundai car dealerships in Canada
Toronto Raptor's Superfan Nav Bhatia, a Canadian businessman has turned down the $50,000 Global Indian Award a day after accepting it. After receiving the award, Bhatia sent his speech as recording. He was honoured to join the company of previous awardees - Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Ratan Tata, Deepak Chopra, and Narayana Murthy
Bhatia also pledged it to his ‘Daughters of India Initiative’ to build school washrooms for rural girls in Punjab and Rajasthan. He currently runs the Superfan Foundation as a way to unite people through the love of the sport. He has attended every Toronto Raptors home game since 1995, declaring him to be a true Superfan.
CIF regrets the decision and circumstances under which Nav Bhatia chose to return the Global Indian of the Year Award. Canadians of all walks of life treasure his non-political enthusiasm for sport and for Canada & India.
The true spirit of this Award is recognizing and celebrating the role, success and contribution of an outstanding global Indian every year. To be drawn into India’s current politics or to pronounce on historical debates is not in the spirit of the Award.
We will continue the hard and important work of pursuing genuine reconciliation between communities, and of strengthening ties between two great democracies.
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Fascinating story of an immigrant who came to Canada from India
When he says he’s number one, he’s not just giving you the finger. He
means it.
- “I work very hard and I’m honest. I don’t drink.
I don’t smoke. I don’t womanize. I just Raptorize.”
- Nav Bhatia spends more than $300,000 a year on Raptors’ tickets, many of them given away to kids of any religion- For me, kids are kids. It doesn’t matter if they’re South Asian, Black, White or Chinese.”
Nav Bhatia is known as the Official Raptor`s VIDEO
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Top Sikh car dealer backs PM Harper in Canada election
Toronto, Oct 19, 2015: An India-born Sikh car dealer in Canada has backed Canada Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Monday's election to the 338-member parliament, a media report said.
Nav Bhatia is a common name in the Canada car-dealer industry and Prime Minister Harper dropped by at Bhatia's Mississauga Hyundai Dealership on Sunday, Toronto Sun reported.
Bhatia said Harper has been one of Canada's best ever prime ministers and deserves to be re-elected.
"Things are going well and people are doing well. We would not want that to change," he added.
Bhatia praised the prime minister, saying that despite a worldwide economic collapse, the country has grown and people are flourishing.
"A lot of people came and lived in apartments then moved up to a condominium and now own a house," he said.
Meanwhile, Harper poured heaps of praise on Bhatia saying "hard working" Bhatia was the kind of employer his government wants to protect with low taxes.
Bhatia came to Canada from India in 1984 with a mechanical engineering degree. He was mistaken for a taxi driver one day and then he decided to change the stereotype, the report said.
Bhatia is one of the biggest and most famous car dealers in Canada.
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- Nav Bhatia spends more than $300,000 a year on Raptors’ tickets, many of them given away to kids of any religion to enjoy sitting courtside, and sponsors events at home games. He is giving back to the community and the country that has given him so much, while also trying to help the mainstream population in North America learn more about his Indian identity and South Asians as a whole. The Raptors came into his life when the franchise started up and he decided to buy two season tickets.
- The political climate in New Delhi turned into ugly riots and Sikhs became targeted for murders, resulting in more than 8,000 deaths, including 3,000 in his place of birth. He and his wife, Arvinder, fled to Canada, but he found work scarce because he wore a turban, which prospective employers didn’t embrace. He eventually found work selling cars at the Rexdale Hyundai dealership. With “God’s grace and the blessings” Bhatia became the company’s top salesperson in Canada. He sold almost 150 cars in only four months.
- HE managed a Hyundai dealership in Mississauga that was on the verge of bankruptcy. In only three years, the outlet became the top Hyundai dealership in Canada.
- Bhatia became a partner in the Mississauga dealership and then the outright owner in 2003. In 2011, he moved the dealership down the street from the Erin Mills Auto Centre to a property that had formerly been a failed General Motors dealership. In 2013, the Mississauga outlet led all others in the Canadian chain in new vehicles sold, and he topped that figure in 2014.
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NRI Nav Bhatia- Entrepreneur and automotive visionary in Toronto
owner of two car dealerships- Hyundai of Mississauga & Rexdale
Biggest NRI car Dealership
Toronto, Feb.01, 2011
S. Singh/Hamilton/ Gary Singh, LA
Sometime we strive to identify potential entrepreneurs from within the target group of NRI unemployed enginers and, to a certain extent, teach entrepreneurship. Mr. Nav Bhatia is one of them.
Few news paper in Toronto, regard him as Iconoclast and Ice-Breaker between Canadian mainstream and NRI community in Ontario, Canada.
We all know that
Auto companies are in severe crisis for the past 7-8 years but Bhatia’s dealership, Hyundai Of Mississauga has sold record number of cars. He is on top of the charts, so South Asians go for Hyundai rather than just Toyota and Honda.
According to our survey, we found that Mr. Bhatia believe:
- GM and Chrysler failed because “they weren’t working hard, easy going, and their philosophies were outdated.
- For him, there is no recession, because his sales are up as above 20% of his NRI community. He always grateful to all his clients and they are like his family.
- He told all his employees that no one will be laid off; everyone will have their job, but they must all work hard and he stands by his word.
- He has never fired any of his employees except three. His criterion is simple. People should not steal, work hard and be honest with their work hours.
- He was on the Board of Ontario Trillium Hospital for a number of years and later resigned due to politics. He refused to run as a public office as a Liberal in spite he picked up sick children from temples-mandir and gurdawaras to NBA games.
In 1984- escaping the riots in New Delhi, at the age of 33, he came to Canada. He is a mechanical engineer by profession but could not get a job. At the end he became salesperson at Hyundai dealership after doing odd jobs. Hyundai dealership was in trouble and ready to go bankrupt. He took over Hyundai showroom and made it #1 dealership in Canada.
According to his friends, he is spiritual in nature, considers himself a blessed man, like to do something for old and senior citizens. He likes to go near 2nd generation and teach them to have responsibility of their elders. We assume that this is the reason he spend over ¼ million dollar to buy over 2500 seats for NBA games and give NRI kids free front row tickets. He does this because when his old father came to him to say that not one of his seven sons wanted to take care of him. He looked after his 90-year-old mother who died in Nov. 2009
 
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Brian and Denoria earned their cars by entering the NBA Playa Challenge during the NBA Playoffs and Finals 2003. The cars were delivered at Hyundai Mississauga by none other than Nav Bhatia of Hyundai, also known as "Superfan" because he is such a loyal and fervent NBA fan.
On the other hand, as a good sikh, he does not smoke or drink but confront with stereotype white people because he like to show them:
- No body should misinterpreted to be a Muslim while walking around the Canada Centre after 9/11.
- NRI youth should know they don’t need to change, they’re cool just as they are.
- NRI’s job to talk to mainstream Canadians about our values and not theirs.
- We are very much naturally high. We don’t need liquor or drugs to be contented
He is deeply concern about, when South Asian community “has not done enough to be engaged. We are living in a great Country. Our kids could be member of parliament, mayor and Prime Minister in this country.
Surprisingly, in 1990, he introduced South Asians to mainstream through Bollywood movies.
He also staged big live shows such as A.R. Rahman, Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and other popular stars in Air Canada Centre in Toronto
HYUNDAI SONATA NAMED 2011 INTERNATIONAL CAR OF THE YEAR: Jan. 26, 2011
 
2011 Hyundai Sonata (Sonata Hybrid Shown) – Just $19,195 to start while rated at 24/35 mpgUS city/highway…
The 2011 Sonata is the industry standard for mid-size sedans with a unique range of fuel-efficient four-cylinder engines delivering class leading fuel economy, exceptional performance, emotional design, high-tech and luxurious convenience features and standard safety equipment. It was the first mid-size car to receive a five-star crash test rating under National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s new, more stringent 2011 system and an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Top Safety Pick honor, placing it in a safety position unsurpassed in the industry.
The 2011 Hyundai Sonata can be purchased in the GLS, SE and Limited trims with the 198 HP DI 2.4L I4 (200 HP for the SE) rated at 22 and 24/35 mpgUS city/highway (6-speed AT/6-speed MT), SE and Limited trims with a 274 HP 2.0L I4 Turbo rated at 22/33 mpgUS city/highway and finally the Hybrid Blue Drive with its 206 HP combined output from a MPFI 2.4L I4 rated at 36/40 mpgUS city/highway.........Sources-NBA and S.Singh
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Super successful Sikh is Toronto's biggest Indian car man
Toronto, Feb 1, 2011: As the global meltdown grounded the auto industry, Toronto's biggest Indian car man, Nav Bhatia, only thrived. The multimillionaire Sikh has also been helping change stereotypes about Indians in Canada after being mistaken for a cab driver once.
"We have continued to post better results thanks to our clients," beams Bhatia who landed here from Delhi in 1984 and is the biggest Indian origin Hyundai car dealer in Canada today.
Flip through any newspaper and you find him featured in full-page auto ads with his trademark right finger pointed up.
He is friends with the who's who of Canada, including BlackBerry co-CEO Jim Balsillie. "We are very good friends. Jim loves Indian food. He is very simple and cuts his lawn grass himself."
The 58-year-old Sikh is also the most famous Indian face on the North America NBA circuit with his official anointing as the 'Super Fan' of the city-based NBA team called Toronto Raptors for creating a record of watching over 500 games.
"I am the only Super Fan anointed by the NBA. Each season, I spend $300,000 to buy 3,000 seats out of the total 20,000 for games held in Toronto and distribute them free to Indian kids to watch these games from front rows. The images of our kids in turbans and Indian dress beamed into millions of homes make white people aware of our identity," he says.
"Most NBA players and referees know me personally because of my turban. That's how I used the NBA to promote awareness about our identity. I took Balsillie and his son with me to the Raptors' game against Lakers here Dec 19."
The top auto man is also credited with bringing Bollywood to Canada, with the screening the film "Hum Saath Saath Hain" here in 1999.
"It became the first Bollywood film to run at six mainstream theatres in the Toronto area. Till then no Cineplex would touch an Indian film, but I changed that," says Bhatia who has brought dozens of Indian films here since then.
Over the years, he has also staged live shows of the likes of Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, A.R. Rahman and other stars at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
"Through Bollywood films and live shows, I have succeeded in telling Canadians that we Indians have a robust culture of entrainment and solid identity. My Indian identity is very important to me."
In fact, it was a hurtful remark in 1998 that forced Bhatia to shell out a fortune to use the NBA and Bollywood to promote his Indian identity among white people.
"I was walking into a Bell cellphone repair centre when a white guy, who was talking on the phone, said loudly: 'Honey, I have to go now, my cab is here.' Seeing my turban, this guy thought I am a cab driver. I was so hurt that I decided to do anything - spend any money - to change stereotypes about us," says Bhatia. He thinks his efforts have paid off.
This super successful man started his Canadian dream with odd jobs.
"Though I held a degree in mechanical engineering from California State University, I couldn't find a job because of my turban. Finally, a Chinese car dealer gave me a break as a salesman. Within three months, I sold 127 cars and was promoted as manager," he narrates.
Impressed with his track record, Hyundai offered him to turn around a troubled dealership. Bhatia not only turned it around within a year but also bought it in 1989.
There was no looking back as Bhatia went on to break one ceiling after another.....IANS/
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