Tata Looking At Land Rover Plant In Saudi Arabia

by Derek Kreindler

September 3rd, 2012 9:00 AM

tata looking at land rover plant in saudi arabia

Tata is looking at twinning a new aluminum smelter with a vehicle assembly plant that would build Land Rover products.

As of now, the only aluminum Land Rover is the upcoming Range Rover – but the idea of a smelter and a new assembly plant suggests that Tata will be doubling down on aluminum vehicles for Land Rover as well as Jaguar.

Reuters quotes company CEO Ratan Tata as saying

“This smelter could make the production of aluminum in Saudi Arabia very competitive. So taking a really long-term view, if we put an assembly plant there with a large press shop, given our commitment to aluminum in our products, we could have an interesting business case which we are examining today,”

Cheap energy costs and a desire by the kingdom to expand its mining and natural resources capabilities are also thought to be factors driving the decision. And Land Rover’s popularity in the Middle East probably doesn’t hurt either.

#LandRover #RangeRover #SaudiArabia #SUV

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6 of 9 comments

Polar Bear on Sep 03, 2012

I hope Tata does not mind work stopping five times a day for prayers.

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- Asdf on Sep 03, 2012
  
  I hope the civilized world *does* mind, and refrains from importing and purchasing vehicles made in that part of the world.
  
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Mandalorian on Sep 03, 2012

Maybe the quality will improve, it has nowhere to go but up.

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Tstag on Sep 03, 2012

Love the new Range Rover. There's not a car in the world that holds a candle to it in terms of luxury/ off road capability.

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- Mandalorian on Sep 03, 2012
  
  It will last all of 15 minutes without an electrical issue. I'd rather have a Hummer H1. Better to pay for fuel than parts.
  
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Robert Gordon on Sep 04, 2012

"As of now, the only aluminum Land Rover is the upcoming Range Rover" Just a question, are you seriously unaware that Land Rover Defenders have aluminium alloy bodies? In fact pretty much every Land Rover product - Range Rover, Discovery, Defender, Series, 90, 110 etc prior to the current generation of vehicles (which are mainly steel) have been aluminium alloy bodied.

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