Mahindra Group to open MADE, a design centre for mobility products in UK

The firm will be the second from India to enter UK for designing cars and SUVs, after Tata Motors set up the European Technical Centre in Coventry in 2005

The Mahindra Group, which has interest in fields as diverse as farm equipment, aerospace, finance, IT and real estate, among others, will be setting up Mahindra Advanced Design Europe (MADE) in the West Midlands, UK.

The company said in a statement that it seeks to further sharpen its distinctive product designs and differentiated technology offerings and improvise its safe, thrilling, yet efficient connected car experiences.

Mahindra Group will be the second firm from India to set foot in the UK for designing cars and SUVs. In 2005, Tata Motors set up the European Technical Centre in Coventry. It is the centre of excellence for automotive design and engineering.

Subsequently, in 2014, the Tata Group’s Tata Elxsi, the Bangalore-based firm which is into system and electronic integration, launched its first 'design studio’ as part of the company's strategic expansion to move closer to its customers in the UK and Europe.

Mahindra's  new Centre of Excellence (CoE) will be a part of the Mahindra global design network that includes the Mahindra Design Studio in Mumbai, India, and Pininfarina Design in Turin, Italy. MADE is a strategic enhancement of Mahindra’s global design capabilities. It renews its commitment to bring to its customers, sophisticated, authentic SUVs with an unmissable presence, the company said.

“Mahindra is poised to enter a new, exciting era to build upon our rich 75 years of automotive history to bring unique customer centric products to the Indian and global markets. A key lever to make the business future-ready is to significantly strengthen design capability across automotive, farm equipment and two wheelers globally,” said Rajesh Jejurikar, Executive Director, Mahindra and Mahindra.

The new design centre will contribute to all future automotive and mobility products including Born EV SUVs and be a resource available to Mahindra Group companies, said Jejurikar. With this new initiative, Mahindra hopes to get a quantum leap in both capacity and capability in the design space,” he said.

The Coventry region in UK is a powerhouse of automotive design. MADE will contribute and leverage the skills, experience, and expertise of this network of design talent. It will also support the creation of highly skilled design roles, drawing from Coventry University, Royal College of Art, and other design colleges in the UK and Europe. M.A.D.E. will be operational from the 1st of July 2021, said the company.