Mahindra to set up European design centre in the UK
Mahindra has announced it will set up a new design centre in the UK which it calls Mahindra Advanced Design Europe (M.A.D.E). The outfit will be based in the West Midlands and will be operational from July 2021. This facility is the latest move in the Rs 3,000 crore investment plan by Mahindra to shore up its infrastructure and products. Noteworthy moves to this end have been the setting up of a new research and development centre, the acquisition of Meru Cabs and reorganising Mahindra Electric into Mahindra Automotive.
The UK design centre is expected to play a major role in these advancements. It will work in conjunction with Mahindra's other design outposts like the Mahindra Design Studio in Mumbai, and Pininfarina Design in Turin, Italy. The new centre is meant to shore up a slew of EV SUVs and other new mobility products, both in the personal and commercial segments that Mahindra has plans for over the next few years.
Mahindra says it will leverage the design talent pool from the West Midlands region. This area is the hub for the automotive industry in the UK with numerous design studios and other technical facilities situated here, most notably Tata Motors and Jaguar Land Rover. Mahindra will also draw from the fresh talent pool churned out by many of the UK's design institutions namely, Coventry University and the Royal College of Art.
Rajesh Jejurikar, executive director of Mahindra Automotive said of this development, "Mahindra is poised to enter a new, exciting era to build upon our rich 75 years of automotive history to bring unique customer-centric products to the Indian and global markets. A key lever to make the business future-ready is to significantly strengthen design capability across automotive, farm equipment and two-wheelers globally. M.A.D.E will contribute to all future automotive and mobility products including Born EV SUVs and be a resource available to Mahindra Group companies. It will give us a quantum leap in both capacity and capability in the design space."
