Mercedes-Benz R&D India unveils its best-in-class facility in Bangalore

Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India (MBRDI) announced the inauguration of their new facility at Whitefield, Bangalore. Spread over an area of 20,000 square meters with capacity of 1800 people, this is the single largest R&D facility of Daimler outside of Germany.

Prof.Dr. Thomas Weber, member of the Board of Management, Daimler AG and Head of Group Research, Mercedes-Benz Cars Development commented, "MBRDI is one of our most important hubs within the global research and development organization and the new facility will be a cornerstone for leveraging the Indian talent pool for Daimler. As a global development center the contribution of MBRDI can be envisaged from the fact that in 2012 alone, the organization filed over 50 patents for innovations in automotive development- a powerful testimony to MBRDI’s success". He also stated that “India is a high potential market for Mercedes-Benz and MBRDI will continue to ensure that development initiatives are in cognizance with the needs of upcoming markets.”

MBRDI has been involved with some of Daimler’s cutting-edge projects. A case in point is the company’s leadership towards ‘Human Body Modeling (HBM) System’. The HBM simulation under development and testing at MBRDI, considers “almost” every possible combination of accident variables from biomechanics and the physical properties of human tissues to accident statistics and the physics of crash situations.HBM is a key pillar supporting Daimler’s vision of accident free driving.

MBRDI has been involved in many areas of Daimler’s R&D engagements including component development of parts and modules for the New Generation Cars from Mercedes-Benz. The integral seats of the newly launched A-Class and the seats of the new CLA are a few examples of end-to-end projects lead by the MBRDI team.

Dr. Jens Cattarius, Managing Director and CEO of MBRDI, stated, "Indian talent needs no introduction- and the success story of MBRDI proves this point. As a global organization it is essential to harness local capabilities; it is from this perspective that MBRDI and its long association with India plays a pivotal role. We started in 1996 with only 10 employees; we have grown with a CAGR of 34% and today have a 1200 strong employee base. We are looking forward to a period of robust growth in India and as such, Indian talent pool will continue to play an even more dominant role in the months and years ahead.

The new facility offers best in class infrastructure and houses all our scientists and researchers in a centralized location, essential ingredients to further catalyze cross functional collaborations and shorten development cycles. We are excited about the prospects ahead and look forward to a period of even steeper growth ahead of us". Specializations within MBRDI: Mercedes-Benz R&D India is headquartered in Bangalore where 90% of its workforce is situated. It also operates one satellite office out of the Mercedes-Benz India facility in Pune.

Interior and Exterior Component design is a specialization of MBRDI Pune, which leverages the presence of local suppliers. The Pune office of MBRDI ensures that proximity to the sales organization and customer inputs are seamlessly captured and integrated through feed-forward loop into future development of products.