Land Rover Defender vehicles will be produced in Jordan from 2003, a report in
the Amman-based Star newspaper said.
The UK-based Ford subsidiary has set up a $US70 million joint venture with
Ole Jordan Co., the Jordanian BMW importer, to build 10,000 vehicles a year.
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Construction of the factory in Ma’an in the south of the country began
last week and the building should be complete byNovember 2002.
Production will start with the five-cylinder turbodiesel Defender Td5. After
two or three years, a second phase will add Freelander and Discovery assembly,
spare parts production and the manufacture of glass using Jordanian raw materials
such as silica gel.
The project has been under discussion for two years and involved negotiations
between Land Rover’s headquarters in Britain, OJC and the Jordanian government.
The Star said that Ma’an was selected for the factory site because the
government wants to attract more investment into the area to create jobs for
young Jordanians. It aims to make the area a centre of vehicle production and
maintenance.
The factory will initially employ 500 and a special polytechnic college will
be set up nearby to train workers.
