Mercedes Benz has appointed Manu Saale as the head of the Mercedes Benz Research and Development India (MBRDI).
Saale will be replacing Jen Cattarius and is scheduled to start the position on Apr. 1, 2014, according to Business Standard. Cattarius is said to be taking on a new role for the Research and Development center in Stuttgart/Germany.
Saale is a native of Bangalore, India, and has been working with Mercedes since 2011, Business Line reported. Saale is tasked to increase revenues this fiscal year from the current 43 percent to 58 percent.
Sale said the company plans on achieving this goal by increasing its staff from the current 1,400 employees to 2,000 employees.
"We plan to hire a mix of fresh graduates and lateral hires," Saale said.
Established in Bangalore in 1996, MBRDI is the largest Daimler Research and Development center outside of Germany, according to Motoroids. MBRDI is also the largest and most modern R&D center owned by a German automotive manufacturer in India. The R&D center has made developments in the areas of Design (CAD), computer simulation (CAE), IT-Services and electric/electronics.
Prof. Thomas Weber, member of the Board of Management of Daimler, is in charge of Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development, Business Standard. Weber thanked Cattarius for his commitment and accomplishments with MBRDI for the past three years. Weber also expressed his confidence in Saale as the head of the center.
"With Man Saale, being multilingual and Indian-born, we appointed an international expert and global player at the head of MBRDI," Weber said. "We are confident that the transferring of important specific know-how and expertise with Daimler R&D will further solidify MBRDI's position as a strong player of Daimler's global RD-network. We are committed to India and underline our confidence to this important growth market for Daimler. I am wishing both Dr. Jens Cattarius and Manu Saale all the best for their new assignments and thank both for their strong contributions and commitment with our company."
