Mercedes-Benz Indian R&D unit played a critical role in developing its Concept EV EQXX, which delivered 1,000 kilometres on a single charge
Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India (MBRDI), which was established as a captive unit to carry out research, and IT and product development activities, is now playing a pivotal role in the German luxury carmaker’s next-generation product lines, including EVs (electric vehicles). Initially focussed on application engineering and localisation activities, Mercedes Benz India’s R&D centre is now increasingly concentrating on product and platform development, software solutions, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, data analytics, etc.
“A company like Mercedes has the world as its market and needs to serve a multitude of customers across the globe with different aspirations and ambitions. Hence, we’ve set up our R&D centre to best cater to that,” said Manu Saale, MD, MBRDI, in an exclusive interaction with Moneycontrol.
Headquartered in Bengaluru, MBRDI was founded in 1996 and started with a focus on activities like CAD, CAE, and IT programming for all the group’s business units, and has now transformed into an end-to-end engineering solutions hub.
“We built our digital capabilities from here, and there’s a little bit of India in every Mercedes sold today. Indeed, India is working on the next EQ (a high-end EV),” , added Saale.
He maintained that while the company’s US centre is focussed on next-generation technologies, the Israeli unit takes care of cybersecurity operations. The Indian centre is the group’s largest operation outside Germany, Saale added.
He also stated that MBRDI’s expertise includes developing new technologies like connected, autonomous, and electric vehicles, driving digital acceleration, leading excellence in in-car software, and paving the way for sustainable mobility.
“Today, India is involved in all aspects of development, both on the application and the platform sides,” he said, and talked about the country’s role in the development of the Concept EV EQXX, which delivered 1,000 kilometres on a single charge. “There were engineers from India that were contributing with their competence and knowledge of CAE, and ensuring that it has the best aerodynamics.”
Mercedes-Benz India’s R&D unit currently employs over 8,500 professionals across engineering, digitisation, testing and simulation, and data science. A lot of the mechanical engineers are involved in product development, components, sub-systems, systems, etc.
“The Indian R&D centre today has the know-how to deal with the challenges of product development at all levels and at scale. We are a global team and develop products globally, while we do have certain India-specific challenges to adapt to and solve. We are helping build Mercedes Benz’s future from India,” affirmed Saale.
