Tokyo, May 19 2017 – Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) has started a major renovation work of the R&D Center in Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture, which includes the rebuilding of its three main facilities: the main office building, the environment testing facility and the wind tunnel testing facility.
Investment in this project is to be around 33 billion yen. The office building and the environment testing facility are due for completion in fall of 2018, and the wind tunnel testing facility at the beginning of 2020.
Improvements in the work environment and the introduction of the latest equipment will strengthen the company's research and development capabilities, and MMC will move forward to revamp R&D structure for creating next-generation models.
Facility Outline
- Office building
The rebuilt 8-story office building will have a cafeteria and a large conference hall (capacity: 700) available inside. It will have a layout that gives consideration to ease of movement between floors so as to facilitate cross-functional activities. The building is scheduled to provide meeting space for better communication. Some 2,000 employees will be working in design, development, certification and testing.
- Environment testing facility
The environment testing facility will simulate real-life environments and allow the engineers to conduct tests in conditions that include extreme cold temperature (- 40°C) and extreme hot temperature (+ 50°C) as well as under natural sunlight and in snow.
- Wind tunnel testing facility
The new large-scale wind tunnel will be equipped with a moving belt function that can simulate complex real-life driving situations and will be used to improve aerodynamic characteristics, environmental performance and noise levels.
