International Centre For Automotive Technology (Icat)

Out in Sector 3 of IMT Manesar, on Plot 26, things are usually moving pretty fast. This is where the International Centre For Automotive Technology is based. We spend our days looking at cars and trucks, but not in the way a mechanic does at a local garage. We run tests to see how they handle different conditions. There’s a lot of specialized gear around, from dynos to crash test setups. The area used to be mostly empty fields, but now it’s full of warehouses and offices. It gets dusty in the winter and incredibly hot in the summer. We spend a lot of time checking sensors and looking at computer screens to see what the data says. It’s not all high-tech, though. There’s still a lot of manual labor, moving vehicles around and setting up the tracks for the next run. We don't have a polished corporate headquarters. It’s more of a functional space where the focus is on the data. Sometimes a test fails and we have to stay late to figure out why. We aren't trying to be the biggest name out there, we just do the technical work that the industry needs. Most of the guys here are into engines and electronics, so the conversation at lunch is usually about car parts or new rules. It’s a practical place with a lot of heavy lifting. We show up, run the sequences, and go home to start again.