The first phase of the new center will be completed by March 2019.
Ford Motor Company announced its plans to invest $195 million over the next five years in a technology and business center in Chennai to develop new products, design mobility solutions and provide business services.
“This new centre will integrate all our existing India-based global business functions into one campus. This will become our third global product development centre in Asia Pacific. It will serve as a global hub for product development, mobility solutions and business services for India and for the world,” The Hindu quoted Bill Ford, Chairman of Ford Motor Company.
The Dearborn, Michigan-based company, which has already invested $2 billion in India till date, will hire about 3,000 people comprising engineers, scientists and skilled workers.
The first phase of the new center will be completed by March 2019, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
The center will Ford’s second-largest technology setup outside its global headquarters, and will include testing facilities and laboratories for vehicles and components, to enable Ford to test future products in India.
“Global Innovation Business Services (GBS) which started with 20 people in 1999 will have 12,000 people by 2020, demonstrating our faith in India and Indian products. Driven by innovations, GBS teams working in India provide business solution for every Ford location across the world in areas of information technology, financial accounting, manufacturing, marketing, sales and services, data analytics and automotive financing,” said David Dubensky, Executive Director, GBS Ford Motor Company.
The center which will stretch across a 28-acre campus with a 2.5 acre sq ft floor space has been designed for three specific functions, topmost of them being to bring employees from all functional teams under one roof. GBS employees now working across six different facilities in Chennai will work together.