Washington — Expleo, a Paris-based engineering company, will open its first North American research and development facility in Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Tuesday after finalizing the agreement during an investment trip to France.
The company is expected to invest $2 million in a project that will focus on automotive R&D, Whitmer said. It’s estimated to create 196 jobs in Oakland County, though the exact location has not been chosen.
The announcement comes as Whitmer spends four days in France and Germany to drum up investment in Michigan from European aerospace, defense, mobility and manufacturing industries.
The Michigan Economic Development Corporation has been working with Expleo for around a year, Whitmer said, “and this was our opportunity to seal the deal.”
Expleo considered other locations in Canada, the Midwest and the South, according to the governor’s office, but chose Michigan for its automotive presence, engineering workforce and relationships with suppliers and customers. The state is likely to request taxpayer-funded incentives for the company, Whitmer said, but she declined to specify how much would be offered.
With the company’s expansion into Michigan, said Expleo Executive Vice President of Automotive Marcus Ganguin in a statement, “we will be able to partner with its community of automotive businesses to provide the deeply integrated engineering and technology services needed to address the most pressing challenges facing our industry such as e-mobility.”
Whitmer said she spent Monday at the Paris Air Show, an annual aviation trade show, meeting with leaders of some of the 62 companies attending that have a footprint in Michigan. Tuesday night she is heading to Germany, where she plans to visit Stuttgart and Ramstein-Miesenbach and meet with auto suppliers and Michigan servicemembers stationed there to support regional and NATO partners.
The governor declined to specify which auto suppliers she would be meeting with, but said they “already have a footprint” in Michigan and relationships with Michigan-based automakers, “but are considering growing it.”
She said she has been wanting to visit Germany for a while because of its strong auto manufacturing industry and economic ties with Michigan, and to visit France’s Paris Air Show because many companies work in both air and ground transportation.
“Our aerospace industry is one that we are going to focus on growing in the state of Michigan, and the defense space as well,” she said. “That’s why these meetings rose to the top of our list of priorities.”
Earlier this month, Whitmer created a commission to study and address Michigan’s population decline. Studies have shown Michigan has struggled to retain population, especially recent graduates with the skills necessary to shift the state’s auto industry to electric and autonomous vehicle production.
Asked whether companies are asking about that talent shortage, Whitmer said businesses are aware of state policies aimed at strengthening the workforce.
“As I chatted with the CEO (of Expleo) he was very conversant in all of the different ways that we have been upskilling our workforce,” she said, citing state education and training programs Michigan Reconnect, Going PRO and Futures for Frontliners. “They also know that I am supportive of an R&D tax credit so that we can incentivize this high end part of the industry to ensure that it happens in Michigan.”
She added that the state’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies was “something that resonated with the company as well.”
Whitmer’s administration has ramped up efforts to draw more automotive and clean energy businesses to Michigan since the state missed out on a $11.4 billion investment by Ford Motor Co. for electric vehicle and battery production that instead went to Kentucky and Tennessee.
Last year, General Motors Co. announced that it would invest $7 billion in facilities in Orion Township and Lansing; Ford said it would spend $2 billion in Michigan EV facilities; LG Energy Solution announced a $1.7 billion expansion at a battery plant in Holland; and battery companies Our Next Energy and Gotion Inc. announced $1.6 billion and $2.4 billion investments, respectively.
Whitmer spent five days in Norway and Switzerland in January and attended the World Economic Forum. That visit led to a May announcement that Nel Hydrogen would build a $400 million hydrogen technology facility in Michigan.
rbeggin@detroitnews.com
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