Daimler appoints Manu Saale as the new Head of R&D unit

Manu Saale has been assigned as the new Managing Director and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Research and Development Center India (MBRDI), Bangalore. The announcement was made at a press briefing by Prof. Dr. Thomas Weber, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler, responsible for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development. Manu succeeds Dr. Jens Cattarius, who has been reassigned to take over new responsibilities at the Mercedes-Benz R&D in Germany.

Speaking at the event, Prof. Thomas Weber said, “With Manu Saale, being multilingual and Indian-born, we appointed an international expert and global player at the head of MBRDI. We are confident that the transferring of important specific know-how and expertise within 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 to our company.”

Manu Saale is a native of Bangalore and had first joined Daimler in 2011 as the Head of department for Electrical & Electronics Engineering at MBRDI. He was being trained within various R&D departments in Stuttgart to prepare him for this new assignment since July 2013. He is faced with the task of increasing the revenues of this fiscal year from the existing 43 per cent to 58 per cent.

Speaking to BusinessLine about the target, Manu said, “We plan to hire a mix of fresh graduates and lateral hires." This centre will work on new methods and processes, which will help Daimler to bring newer vehicles faster to the market.” He added that the focus of MBDRI will be concentrated in the area of digital technology-related work inside a vehicle as well as developing other technologies like roadside assistance technologies.

MBRDI was setup in Bangalore in 1996 and currently is the largest Research and Development Center of Daimler outside Germany. One of the four Daimler operations in India, it contributes in the areas of Computer Simulation (CAE), Design (CAD), Electric/Electronics and IT-Services.