Mercedes-Benz Completes 20 Years Of R&D In India

Mercedes-Benz India was founded in 1994 and few will believe that it started before the Indian operations for Honda Cars (in 1995) and Hyundai Motor (in 1996). In November 1996, the German car firm flagged off its own testing facility, located in the midst of what is now known as the Indian IT hub, Bengaluru. 

Mercedes-Benz foresaw the role of IT in the future of automotive technology in terms of engineering, digital development, testing and simulation at an early stage. Bengaluru, then a budding IT and engineering hub, seemed to be a good location for the carmaker to find qualified specialists. This facility is called the Mercedes-Benz Research and Development Center India (MBRDI) and today stands as the largest R&D facility for Mercedes-Benz outside Germany.

On the 20th anniversary of the facility, Thomas Weber, member of the board of management of Daimler AG, responsible for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development, said “Our site in Bengaluru plays a significant role within our global research and development network. Through the special spirit in this center, all areas of our digital development benefit. We are creating intelligent solutions to synchronise the development cycles of the web and consumer electronics with those of the automotive industry. This translates into bringing new technologies to the road even faster than before – and more efficiently.”

The company says that the MBRDI’s primary focus is on digitisation, simulation and data science. The facility was established with just ten employees as a research institute and, over the past 20 years, the employee count has risen to 3,500. Mercedes-Benz wants MBRDI to be upgraded to a Center of Excellence within Daimler for Engineering and IT. The Bengaluru facility also wants to partner with suppliers within India in the areas of product development and IT services.