Mahindra Plan to Open Assembly Plant in Detroit

India’s Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd tells the Economic Times it intends to open its first U.S. assembly plant—a facility in the Detroit area to make off-road vehicles—by next spring.

CEO Anand Mahindra tells the newspaper the operation will be an all-new greenfield factory. The plant will enable Mahindra to build vehicles in house rather than use contract assemblers to make them. He says the Detroit factory will make "a few thousand" vehicles per year that are being developed in part by Mahindra’s North American Technical Center, which is located in the Detroit suburb of Troy.

The factory is part of the company’s aims to double its North American investment, revenue and employment to $3 billion, $5 billion and 6,000, respectively within three years, according to the CEO.

Mahindra’s North America unit markets farm and construction tractors, off-road utility vehicles and attachments for both lines of vehicles. It operates six distribution centers, including one opened last September with tractor accessory maker Bercomac Ltd. in Quebec.

The company’s previous effort to enter the U.S. compact pickup truck market collapsed after U.S. certification delays and a protracted legal dispute with Georgia-based distribution partner Global Vehicles USA.