A Mumbai, India conglomerate has chosen Troy as the site of a tech center that will tap into engineering talent that the company chairman says is part of a "perfect ecosystem to step up our U.S. presence."
Mahindra, which has operations in a the aerospace, defense, energy, real estate, logistics, agriculture and financial services and other industries, is expanding its automotive markets worldwide.
Mahindra USA Inc. will open the North American Technical Center on Technology Drive in Troy and hire about 112 employees, most of them engineers who will support the development of the GenZe, a battery-powered scooter that will primarily be marketed to college students. The engineers will also design and develop prototype vehicles in the renovated Troy facility.
Mahindra has an Ann Arbor manufacturing facility where the GenZe is made and where about 34 employees work.
Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group, told a group gathered last week for the announcement of the tech center opening that Michigan and metro Detroit are the ideal location for their expansion because of their unmatched talent.
“Michigan provided us the perfect eco-system to step up our U.S. presence. We were able to draw on the terrific automotive engineering and manufacturing talent available in the state to create industry leading initiatives for the United States,” says Mahidra. “The North American Technical Center and GenZe represent important disruptive product incubators for the Mahindra Group. Constant innovation focused on improving the lives of our consumers, employees and the communities they impact is at the core of Mahindra’s ‘Rise’ philosophy and we are delighted to see this come to fruition in the United States.”
Mahindra, a $16.7 billion multinational that employs more than 180,000 people in more than 100 countries, is investing $2 million in the Troy facility. The state of Michigan is pitching a $500,000 Michigan Business Development Program performance-based grant to Mahindra, and the city of Troy has given the company a nine-year personal property tax abatement.
Source: Kathy Fagan, Michigan Economic Development Corp.
Writer: Kim North Shone
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