Marelli Expands India R&D Footprint with New Bengaluru Hub
Marelli has inaugurated a new technical research and development facility in Bengaluru, marking a significant expansion of its engineering operations in India. The new centre, officially opened on 5 November 2025, is located at Embassy Manyata Tech Park and is designed to host around 350 engineers. With this addition, Marelli’s total R&D capacity in India rises to approximately 1,200 personnel.
According to the company, the Bengaluru hub will incorporate labs and facilities for optics, hardware, and full automotive validation, along with collaborative and training spaces aimed at nurturing innovation and development. Marelli
The new facility’s core focus areas include software‐defined vehicles (SDV), zonal-architecture electronics, infotainment systems, digital clusters, and both internal combustion and electric propulsion systems. Key development domains will span lighting solutions, body control modules, and advanced powertrain electronics.
India now hosts three Marelli R&D centres across six cities, alongside 15 production sites in the country, reinforcing India’s importance as a global engineering hub for Marelli’s mobility technology roadmap.
Editor’s View
For the tyre and mobility supply ecosystem, Marelli’s new Bengaluru hub reinforces a broader shift: automotive technology is evolving far beyond the drivetrain to include electronics, software, and systems integration, and these changes will ripple into tyre design and performance. As vehicles become more connected and software-defined, tyres must interact with electronics-based vehicle control systems (such as stability, load management, and drive modes) in real time.
An R&D centre focused on “hardware, validation and optics” signals that Marelli sees India not just as a cost base but as a key innovation node. For tyre manufacturers and rubber suppliers, this means the ecosystem around the tyre is becoming more complex: lighting systems, vehicle software, and powertrain electronics all affect how a tyre performs, is monitored, and evolves in the field.
In short, this isn’t just an investment in engineering talent; it’s part of a value chain shift that will influence how tyres are designed, integrated, managed, and serviced. Keeping an eye on these upstream innovation moves offers the tyre industry early signals of what specifications and systems will matter next.
