Sudev Rathod Runs A Car Tuning Company That Customizes German Automobils

 

"Love fast cars and making them faster was just a new level for me!"

- Sudev Rathod

Owning a car is not enough. Making it blend with your personality and match your unique lifestyle is what SVR Performance specializes in. The ultra-pro garage  is owned and operated by Sudev Rathod, the 21 year old who has mastered the special art of personalizing German cars in Kenya. Like every other shrewd businessman will tell you, the riches are in the niches. The car tuning scene is relatively competitive. It makes sense why SVR Performance picked a segment of the market and ran with it.

You must be wondering about the  whos, whys,whens, hows and where's of Sudev Rathod, so here is the icebreaker interview he partook in October 2021.

Before we start, can you talk about why fell in love with tuning cars? 

I've love cars since I was like 5. I grew up with cars my whole life till date. Love fast cars and making them faster was just a new level for me! 

What's the first thing you did when you decided to become a car tuner?

First thing I did was make a concrete plan on how am going to achieve this, with such a niche. Find out where I can gain experience and put it into practical use and serve the service as a value.

L-One of the cars tuned by SVR Performance R- Sudev Rathod's VW Golf gti

How did you become so good at what you do? School or self taught? 

Am still learning everyday but it’s experience overseas and practicing with lots of patience on my own, it’s not an easy field for sure but I love it. 

Your friend Eugene, who connected us, said that you used to involved race cars. How does that story go? 

Still not much in car racing but was actually into bikes before.

Am curious, what kind of race car driver were you and just how much do you like to race?

Not much a racer yet but yeah I love to race just to know where I stand and always room to improve.

Can you walk us through the Car Tuning industry. What is it like? What makes it all interesting? 

The performance industry in kenya is still very small and lots of different opinions and myths that people believe in. What makes it’s really interesting for us is that we have a variety of German/European cars to tune here which is really growing, making people smile making their cars sound better/faster. But we have lots of races and events and some mad fast cars for sure, it’s a fast growing industry.

A Lamborghini Urus tuned by SVR Performance

There is a section of Nairobi car owners who love tuning their cars. What does the Nairobi car scene look like from your experience? 

The Nairobi car scene is still growing to date, lots and lots of car enthusiasts, we have some good car pages that organize car meets very often that helps to grow this market. Lowered custom duties and for sure nairobi would have some amazing cars!

What's the most expensive ride you've tuned and what make was it? 

This one is tough cause we’ve tuned many in Dubai and South Africa! But all European 

Why German cars?

I just love German cars, own one so gotta love it! I might start Japanese cars too. Keeping it on the low.

For those who aren't very familiar, which car models are made in Germany? 

So many! Audi/VW/Seat, Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, opel, Alpina, keeping it short to stay common with what’s in kenya. 

What is the biggest trend in car tuning right now?

With tuning, unlike other industries like tech or fashion, it doesn’t work with trends. It’s a huge niche (the niche of niches) 

How did your company, SVR performance come to be? 

It’s just my aspirations of a personal brand that meant something to me. 

The sound of an SVR Performance-tuned Mercedes AMG

You are a car tuner. You are also a very busy young men considering the amount of cars you've tuned. (We saw your Instagram page). So how do you spend your free time and where? 

Most of my free time is spent reading lots and lots of books, and I give a lot of credit to where I am (still nothing but trying to grow) to the books I’ve read. Start my day off with gyming then to work (tuning is something I love doing so can’t really complain for now) But also some time in Instagram which isn’t very necessary just a bad habit has to stop! 

Are there any movies about cars, driving or racing that you've watched and liked? If so, share your favorites

For sure my all time favorite is obviously fast and furious the earlier ones and Thunder bolt!