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Mahindra has bought the Italian designer GRD
By Yoann Besnard on 10 January 2008 | 
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The Italian car maker Mahindra has been in the spotlight of the media recently. After the failed bid over Jaguar and Land Rover sale, the company has bought the Italian designer GRD.
GRD, for Grafica Ricerca Design, is certainly unknown to many of us, but the small company, founded in 1996, is used to working for Fiat, Pininfarina and Magna Steyr. It collaborated on the Fiat Bravo and the premium platform projects. The practical details of the operation remains unknown, but Pawan Goenka, president of Mahindra's automotive unit said that “this acquisition will help us [Mahindra] strengthen our existing design capabilities, help us emerge as a global auto design powerhouse (and) provide a solid European footprint.“ The acquired design company will be renamed Mahindra Graphic Research and Design.
For Mahindra, this is the first milestone of a race to acquire European technology and knowledge as Indian market promises to be tougher in the coming years. Its current models can't compete with the Western and Japanese cars. With the Jaguar and Land Rover purchase, Mahindra wanted to access the Land Rover technology, but the failed attempt pushes the company to acquire technical skills elsewhere.
