Thread: Some defenders to be built in Sri Lanka!

My old man lives out in Sri Lanka and he just sent me this in an email from a newspaper:

Sathosa Motors PLC will invest US $ 1 million to set up an assembly plant for Land Rover Defenders in Hambantota District.

“Preliminary work of the project has already been completed and the project is expected to commence shortly. The proposed project would make Land Rover vehicles available and affordable to a wider spectrum of the market,” Access Engineering and SML Frontier Automotive ( Pvt) Ltd Chairman Sumal Perera said.

He expressed these views at the launch of SML Frontier Automotive (Pvt) Ltd, which will be the exclusive distributor and after sales provider for Land Rover in Sri Lanka. SML Frontier Automotive (Pvt) Ltd is jointly owned by Sathosa Motors and Sheran Fernando.

This would be a 50-50% partnership between both parties.

Speaking about the new partnership Sumal Perera, Chairman SML Frontier Automotive said “We are very excited with the new partnership and this will be the first stepping stone to further expand our foot print in the motor vehicle market.

Access engineering Limited, a public quoted company now owns over 86% of Sathosa motors.

We are very much committed to keep the Land Rover name in its deserved status whilst upholding the good name that Land Rover have established in the world.

“The final beneficiary of this venture will be the Land Rover owners and enthusiasts; Today, we made a great emphasis on ‘after sales service’ through this joint partnership,” SML Frontier Automotive, Managing Director Sheran Fernando said.

After sales service is considered the corner stone of strengthening the Land Rover/ Range Rover brand in Sri Lanka and the construction of a new state-of-the-art workshop in Vauxhall Street will be the epicenter of Land Rover’s after sales service and will commence operations shortly.

It is planned to invest US $ 500 million at the initial stage of the project.


Great news for my dad as they currently don't make a car of any sort on the island and import tax for cars is 250% (no that's not a typo....it's just ridiculous!) Defenders being seen by the Sri Lankan goverment as a lux vehicle.... But now he may be able to afford to get rid of his crap Tata ute and by a LR again

Could mean the original defender lasts beyond 2015, being built to non-eu spec for rest of the world. Could also be LR offloading their intellectual property and design, with lots of joint partnerships springing up, ie Africa, China, India