The first car Virat Kohli bought with his own money was a fairly unknown ride

Virat Kohli is like the Cristiano Ronaldo of cricket, in that his popularity transcends the sport that made him famous, and even people who don’t watch cricket have probably heard of him.

And just like Cristiano Ronaldo, his accomplishments in the sport gave him a bank account with a lot of zeros.

And yet, the first car he bought with his money was surprisingly humble.

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Kohli explained to GQ India that his first car was a Tata Safari.

Tata is one of the most famous automakers from India and one of the few ones that sell cars globally, and they clearly make good cars.

Tata’s owner, a man worth billions, still drives one every, and Jay Leno said, on more than one occasion, that he loves his Tata Nano.

The evolution of the Tata Safari

The Safari has been around for 26 years, and yet there have only been two generations.

The first one (above, left), the one that Kohli had, was unveiled in 1998 and it remained in production until 2021.

The (huge) difference between the first Safari and the current model is a great example of the startling progress Tata has made.

The first one was available with four engines, including one borrowed from Peugeot.

Fast-forward to 2024, and the current model (above, right) uses a JLR (Jaguar-Land Rover) engine, and it’s built on a JLR platform.

This is because Tata now owns Jaguar and Land Rover.

The impressive car collection of Virat Kohli

Kohli had a business partnership with Audi, so he’s owned a bunch of them, including of course the Audi R8.

He now has a car collection worth around $2 million, which also comprises various Lambos and Range Rovers.

These days, according to GQ, his daily driver is a Bentley Continental GT.

He’s come a long way from the days of the Tata Safari, hasn’t he?