Land Rovers, Made in Saudi Arabia

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

In a “build them where you sell them” move, Saudi Arabia’s commerce ministry says it has signed a $1.2 billion deal with Jaguar Land Rover to build a 50,000 unit Land Rover factory in the country. JLR still plays hard to get and said that “this is purely exploratory” when contacted by Reuters.

Tata-owned JLR has seen big demand huge demand the Middle East, along with China and Russia. Started construction of a Chinese factory month.

Unfazed by JLR’s coyness, Saudi Arabia says the factory will open in 2017 in either the Jubail or Yanbu industrial cities.

How can one say no?

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Crbf1 Crbf1 on Dec 11, 2012

    And that second paragraph means????? Land Rover already produce knock-down units in India and (I believe) South Africa, so it probably won't be an issue.

  • Caltemus Caltemus on Dec 11, 2012

    "Tata-owned JLR has seen big demand huge demand the Middle East along with China and Russia." What?

    • Robert Gordon Robert Gordon on Dec 11, 2012

      Non-existent sub editing - but then again it's not as if a lot of people will read it.

  • Blowfish Blowfish on Dec 11, 2012

    is it all that easy to find migrant workers to build cars in a hurry? I am sure is not hard at all to find migrant people. for a land rover, which sold for very good dollar, do need some more finesse skills than slapping a GM together.

    • El scotto El scotto on Dec 11, 2012

      Land Rovers are beautiful vehicles. Not even close to Toyota quality; GM quality will do just fine. My anecdotal evidence? Dad has an LTZ Suburban. Migrate to Saudi Arabia to work? Giving up my American passport for a Saudi Arabian internal one has always made me say no.

  • Corey Lewis Corey Lewis on Dec 12, 2012

    Started building of comment to posted.

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