Jaguar Land Rover mulls Saudi Arabia assembly plant

Out going Tata Group chairman has revealed that a long-term plan to put up an assembly plant in Saudi Arabia with a large press shop was under assessment .

Speaking to Autocar India, Tata said the move was under consideration due to a huge aluminium smelter Saudi Arabia was planning to open. ''Given our commitment to aluminium in our products, we could have an interesting business case,'' he said.

Tata, who would retire as chairman of Tata Motors in December, also revealed that building of the new Land Rover Defender in India was also under consideration, along with manufacturing some component assemblies for supplying to the new Defender production line in the UK. He also suggested that production of the current Defender could be shifted to India because it ''may not be feasible to manufacture in western Europe any longer''.

He added, the company was ''trying to align Tata Motors' development to create a greater synergy with Jaguar'' and other projects under consideration for India included an ''engine venture'' (possibly building the new-generation four-cylinder JLR engines) and assembly of the Jaguar XF.

Criticising the relative lack of passion within his company for the passenger car market, he said he had always felt that cars were emotive products. He added, a car was not a coffee-making machine until there were at least one or two people in the company who had that passion, the desire for perfection and to truly see what an ideal customer wanted, instead of being just another car company.

Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter and Middle East's largest economy, had for decades been looking beyond oil to diversify its economy.

A smelter  being set up as a joint venture between Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Maaden) and Alcoa Inc is scheduled to start production in 2013.

Saudi Arabian industry also has the advantage of low electricity prices thanks to low natural gas prices.