Ricardo’s Leamington facility set for £2m investment from India
A WARWICKSHIRE research and development centre for the automotive industry could be set for major expansion under a new deal being discussed in India.
Prime Minister David Cameron is currently in India and has held talks with the chief executive of automotive giant Mahindra Group, Anand Mahindra over the possibility of it setting up an Overseas Technical Centre.
In the discussions he has pushed the case for the group to strike up a deal engineering consultancy Ricardo, which operates the Leamington Spa centre.
Should the deal be agreed – and the Mahindra board is understood to be voting on the matter today – then it could pave the way for major investment in the centre.
Initially the deal could be worth £2m and help to create 250 jobs over the next three years.
Mahindra is known to be keen to expand its footprint in Europe as well as develop its technological base.
It is a major rival to Tata Motors in its domestic market and back in 2008 was vying with Ratan Tata’s conglomerate to acquire Jaguar Land Rover from Ford.
Last year it was also close to gaining a presence in the luxury car sector by bidding to become a major shareholder in Aston Martin, ultimately losing out to Italian investment group Investindustrial.
