Detroit, Michigan, Aug. 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

  • Auburn Hills-based Mahindra Automotive North America Awards Two New Work Vehicles to Non-Profit Eastern Market Organization to Assist in Operations
  • Vehicles are part of the $400,000 (to date) Mahindra Urban Agriculture Grant Program Initiative

Continuing their years-long support of urban and sustainable farming in Detroit, Mahindra Automotive North America today presented the non-profit Eastern Market Corporation with two new work vehicles. The two Mahindra vehicles, collectively named the “Mahindra RISES for Good Food Fleet” will soon roam the Eastern Market sheds transporting produce and supplies throughout the market, and will become a site common to the roughly 1 million visitors Eastern Market draws each year to their weekly Saturday and Tuesday Public Markets. Among the vehicles awarded is a ROXOR—the all-new off-road vehicle assembled in Metro Detroit that Mahindra launched just this March.  Featuring a steel body on a boxed-steel frame, the Eastern Market ROXOR will handle a variety of demanding tasks on site while the 2nd vehicle awarded—the flexible Mahindra Retriever 750 UTV—will help provide more than 250 market vendors with a quick way to load and transfer goods between stalls. Dan Carmody, President of the Eastern Market Corporation stated, “We are excited to be a 2018 awardee of Mahindra’s Urban Agriculture Grant Program. Mahindra’s commitment to supporting urban ag producers is inspiring. We look forward to building a stronger ecosystem for urban producers with support from Mahindra over time and look ahead in the short term to using Mahindra’s cool vehicles to better serve urban ag producers and their customers at Eastern Market on a daily basis.” “Eastern Market’s mission is to improve access to healthy, green, affordable, and fair food choices in Detroit and throughout Southeast Michigan— this lines up perfectly with the work our grant initiative was created to support,” said Richard Ansell, Mahindra Automotive North America’s VP of Marketing.   Since 2015, Mahindra’s Urban Agricultural Grant Program has awarded over $400,000 in cash and equipment to support sustainable non-profit farming operations and initiatives in and around the City of Detroit. Among other things, these Mahindra grants have been responsible for growing over 1.25 million pounds of produce for Detroiters, building public equipment sheds, creating agricultural job opportunities for developmentally challenged young adults, and distributing more than 200,000 seedlings across 1,600 Detroit gardens. Mahindra Automotive North America is proud to welcome Eastern Market as the newest of the 13 distinct non-profit agricultural organizations it has supported in Southeast Michigan, and looks forward to all the help these vehicles will provide as Eastern Market continues to serve as one of Detroit’s greatest institutions.     About Mahindra Automotive North America Mahindra Automotive North America (MANA) is the North American headquarters of the 20B Mahindra Group’s automotive division.  Established in 2013, MANA now employs over 400 people, and became the first automotive OEM to launch an assembly operation in SE Michigan in over 25 years when it began producing the ROXOR off-road vehicle earlier this year in Auburn Hills.  Working with affiliate Mahindra teams in India, Italy and Korea, MANA also continues to fulfill its mission as a center of automotive engineering excellence, which includes automotive design, engineering and vehicle development, and is led by a team of veteran industry executives, engineers and designers. For more information, visit mahindraautomotivena.com and roxoroffroad.com

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Richard Ansell Mahindra Automotive North America 313-268-4530 ANSELL.RICHARD@mahindra.com