Mr. R Velusamy
Industry Chair – Virginia Tech, India
Chief of Global Product Development – Automotive Division | Mahindra & Mahindra, India
Mr. Velusamy R is a Mechanical Engineer from MIT, Chennai and he is alumnus of ‘Wharton Business School’ and the ‘Michigan Ross School of Business’, a Technical stalwart with over 24 years of experience with Mahindra & Mahindra – India’s leading utility vehicle and tractor manufacturing company. Mr. Velusamy R was the chief architect behind mHawk – Mahindra’s first-ever high-speed diesel engine in the 2.0 lit/2.2 lit category, the mHawk engine powers several Mahindra’s flagship products, including the Scorpio, XUV5oo, Bolero, etc. The engines developed during his tenure follow stringent emission regulations, including BS 6 and E-VI. mHawk is definitely one of the defining moments of India’s Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV) segment.
Some salient features of the mHawk engine include:
Migration from typical cast iron cylinder head to aluminum cylinder head, leading to Light Weight, Reduced reciprocating mass and enables elimination of Secondary Mass Balancer. In the overall Vehicle Development at Mahindra & Mahindra, Velusamy has promoted many new initiatives in both the simulation and Physical Development to achieve vehicle level attribute targets on Durability & Dynamics, Crash, and NVH in a methodical way, ensuring all the recent new product launches meeting GNCAP targets on Safety. He is the chief architect behind XUV 3oo, which is one of the recent launches of Mahindra & Mahindra bagged Safer Choice Award from the same GNCAP, scored 5 stars in adult safety and 4 stars in Child Safety.
Mr. Velusamy R is a member of SAE, he has been conferred with prestigious awards for his contributions to the Automotive Industry and one of them as ‘Champion of Chennai’ for the Powertrain field. Recently, he was named among the Top Ten Personalities in Tamil Nadu by the VIKATAN Group. Mr. Velusamy R currently serves as the Chief of Global Product Development – Automotive Division at Mahindra & Mahindra, India and he is the Vice-Chairman – SIAM Emission & Conservation Committee.