Indian EV maker Ola Electric is expanding into new markets with $190 million on a new engineering and vehicle-design centre.
Fledgling car company Ola Futurefoundry has commited to a new business site outside of India that it says will be “a global hub for the best automotive design and engineering talent in the world”.
Employees at the new UK-based site will work with the design and engineering teams at Ola headquarters in Bangalore, India.
It will work on two-wheel and four-wheel vehicle design; advanced high-performance automotive engineering; digital and physical modelling; and research and development of new vehicle energy systems, including cell technologies.
Ola said it will invest £100m (AUD$190m) over the next five years into the Warwickshire site and employ more than 200 designers and automotive engineers.
It also plans to partner with “world-class education and research institutions in the UK to collaborate on technology research and development”.
Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said: “Futurefoundry will work in close collaboration with our headquarters in Bangalore, India, to help us build the future of mobility as we make EVs affordable across the world.”
Ola vice-president of design Wayne Burgess, previously of Aston Martin and Jaguar, added: “We want to create a world-class design and R&D team with global sensibilities.
“Ola Futurefoundry is an important step in building a multi-disciplinary team that’s agile, flexible and responsive to the various needs of our consumers around the world.”
Rachel Burgess