Mahindra has hired over 50 engineers at Mahindra North American Technical Centre (MNATC) facility in Troy, Michigan, to help develop vehicles which are at par with the best in the world in terms of quality, fit-n-finish and performance.
“The product development ecosystem in the US has been developed over 100 years of experience with the third generation of people now in product development. This not only helps us in developing products which are first time right but also in delivering quality which is acceptable to customers,” said Rajan Wadhera, head of Mahindra Research Valley, M&M’s research and development centre in Chennai
The US team, headed by Rick Haas, will take care of engineering design of M&M vehicles through simulation and CAD design, while the styling and final prototype development will be done in India.
Wadhera said the global product development system will help Mahindra overcome its deficiency in fit and finish as well as vehicle dynamics. “My capability currently may be 7 on 10; post this move we may be very close to 10 on 10, at least 9.5 to 9.7 on 10 on quality,” he said.
The MNATC team has collective experience of over 600 years in the design and development of automobiles. The people who work in this team have had vast experiences with manufacturers like Chrysler, GM, Ford, Dodge, Jeep, Nissan and Tesla.
The US team is currently working on two new MPVs, the next generation Xylo and the Quanto. Both these vehicles are likely to hit the market by 2017. After this, the MNATC team is expected to work on developing a global SUV and a global pickup truck, which are slated for roll out during 2017-19, officials said. Mahindra will launch an upmarket variant of the XUV 500 and a facelifted Scorpio soon and an entry level Mini-SUV next year.
Source: ET