India-Based Mahindra To Manufacture 'GenZe' Scooter-Like Vehicle In Michigan
ANN ARBOR (WWJ/AP) - An international automotive company has chosen two southeast Michigan facilities as sites for research and development as well as manufacturing.
The Mahindra Group — based in Mumbai, India — inaugurated its North American Technical Center in Troy on Friday. The center will develop fully engineered vehicles for Mahindra Global Automotive and will employ more than 100 engineers.
A separate manufacturing facility, Mahindra GenZe, will be located in Ann Arbor.
What brought the company to Michigan?
"What brought us here was very cold logic," Chairman Anand Mahindra told WWJ's Beth Fisher and other reporters.
"The logic was that you have an incredible ecosystem. What you need for a technical center is people — that's the raw material," he said. "And you still arguably have the best engineering talent, not only in America, but in the world."
Gov. Rick Snyder joined Chairman Mahindra Friday in unveiling the company's new personal transportation technology in Ann Arbor. GenZe is a two-wheeled vehicle similar to a scooter or moped that runs on battery power.
The "personal shuttle" will be built to order and produced in Ann Arbor starting in November. GenZe has a smart on board digital display and is designed for urban transport and has a range of about 30 miles and a top speed of 30 mph.
It's expected to go on sale later this year, and will be marketed, in part, to college students.
"Campuses will be a focus because we think it's an ideal product for large campuses for students to get around," Mahindra said. "We'll also look at large corporations, like Microsoft, et cetera, or Google where they have large campuses."
There's no word on the cost of the scooter just yet.
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