Mercedes Benz now has 650 engineers working at its Bangalore development center. The facility is dedicated to passenger cars, and it currently works in conjunction with Daimler’s German unit in many areas, including development of powertrains, according India General Manager (Product Homologation) Prakash Vermali. The company hired 250 tech staff in the last year and the center serves a global market.

Decades ago, the company had a collaboration with Tata Motors (then called Telco) to build trucks in Pune. In that city, Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India Pvt. Ltd. (MBRDI), a 100% captive unit of Daimler AG, was established as a research institute with eight employees in 1996 and currently has a capacity of 367 employees. MBRDI is the largest Research and Development center of Daimler AG outside Germany and contributes in the areas of Computer Simulation (CAE), Design (CAD), Electrical/Electronics and IT-Services. Research and development engineers at MBRDI assess the performance and reliability of various sub-systems and contribute to product development in all the stages of the life-cycle.

Takeaway:   Neither language barriers, nor quality concerns hold back the best global companies, if they are determined and patient, from benefiting from India’s engineering talent.