Ford Motor Company on Tuesday announced that it will invest around $195 million (approximately Rs 1,300 crore) to set up a new business and technology centre in Chennai. The move will help the company employ 3,000 workers over the next five years, according to Executive Chairman Bill Ford.

The Chennai centre will serve as a hub for the United States auto major's product development, mobility solutions and business services, PTI reported. The unit will be established at a 28-acre campus in Old Mahabalipuram Road, Thoraipakkam, where Ford will also bring in 9,000 employees from its existing centres.

"We have invested more than $2 billion till today...This will serve as a hub, and the new campus will be environment friendly," Billl Ford said. "This new centre will help us attract the best and brightest and make Chennai a true hub of innovation for Ford around the world."

By 2019, the automaker is expected to have 12,000 employees at its Chennai facility, which will make it the company's second-largest centre after the one in Michigan, USA. The first phase of the Global Technology and Business Center in Chennai is expected to be completed by March 2019. This will be Ford's third global product development unit in the Asia Pacific.