The Woking team and their German engine partners are supplying Force India with engines, gearboxes, hydraulics and kinetic energy recovery systems for the new VJM02 chassis, which makes its public testing debut at Jerez today.
Force India were unable to break into the points in 2008, and Mallya said the winter restructuring - which included the departure of leading figures Colin Kolles and Mike Gascoyne - was designed to turn the team's form around.
"To be brutally honest, I would not be happy if we didn't show some much improved, and much needed, performance," said Mallya.
"What we really set out to do over the winter was to put in place structures, procedures and partnerships that would give improvement, but crucially, no excuses.
"I would like to see a strong start, rising to points mid-season and a definite improvement in qualifying. Regular points finishes should be the aim."
The Indian entrepreneur admitted that he was dissatisfied with Force India's 2008 achievements even though many felt the team had done well just to stay in touch with the rest of the pack.
"When we started as Force India at the beginning of the 2008 season we were quite pleased with the progress we made, we were midfield until we got to Europe," said Mallya.
"We showed some early gains and I was encouraged by the progress, but then in comparison to other teams I think it's fair to say that we flattened out. I am not saying we didn't improve, as I have often heard people say that Force India is perhaps the most improved team in the paddock, but clearly we did not improve enough.
"With this view in mind I did a lot of introspection and a reality check. I found that for many reasons that I had to make some changes to the structure of the team and to bring in some suppliers and partners I hoped would help us bridge that gap."
Mallya added that he was not concerned about his team being directly compared to McLaren now that they shared much of the same technology.
"By using the same drivetrain as another team, Force India now has a high-level benchmark of its own performance," he said.
"If performance relative to McLaren - the 2008 championship winning team - is low, there are only a reduced number of variables that need to be analysed and understood.
"Due to the late signing of the contract and the limited time available for designing and building the VJM02, immediate benchmarking is not be possible, but I would hope that by the mid-season point Force India will have established itself well enough to accurately analyse its performance."
SOURCE: Autosport
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