Santana Motors
Encyclopedia
Jaén, Spain
Jaén is a city in south-central Spain, the name is derived from the Arabic word Jayyan, . It is the capital of the province of Jaén. It is located in the autonomous community of Andalusia....
, Spain.
History
The company was founded as "Metalúrgica de Santa Ana, SA" and originally manufactured agricultural equipment. The company was set up with a start up of just 3 million pesetas following a drive by the Spanish government in 1954 who were offering start-up incentives to local businesses to encourage development in the Andalucia region of Southern Spain. The company decided to expand beyond its original products line and entered into talks with the Rover car company in 1956 in an attempt to get a licensing agreement to build Land Rover Series models in their factory, in a similar way to the Minerva company in Belgium and Tempo in Germany, both of which built Series Land Rovers under license. An agreement was reached in 1956 and production began in 1958 it was licensed to build Land RoverLand Rover
Land Rover is a British car manufacturer with its headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire, United Kingdom which specialises in four-wheel-drive vehicles. It is owned by the Indian company Tata Motors, forming part of their Jaguar Land Rover group...
models. The Santana Motor company built Series Land Rovers under license in CKD form (Complete Knocked Down kits); essentially parts were shipped over from the Land Rover factory in Solihull
Solihull plant
The Solihull plant is a car manufacturing factory in Lode Lane, Solihull, UK, now owned by Land Rover.The plant currently produces the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Land Rover Discovery and Land Rover Defender vehicles.-History:...
and the Land Rovers were built up from this 'kit' at the Santana factory in Spain.
From 1968 Santana began to develop its own versions of the Land Rover Series Models, developing new engines and new models and this close relationship with Land Rover led to the company to change its name from "Metalúrgica de Santa Ana, SA" to "Land Rover Santana, SA".
In 1962 the company became responsible for promoting the Santana and Land Rover brands in the Central and South American Markets as well as Africa. CKD kits were also supplied to the Morrocan and Costa Rican markets by the company. Because of the harsh working lives vehicles lead in these environments, customer feedback on the range meant that Santana were often far more aware of each model's failings than the Land Rover company itself was. Because of the tight financial position of British Leyland in this period (who owned Land Rover), Santana were often better placed than Land Rover was to deal with these failings. This meant that Santana began to engineer its own solutions to common problems into the models it produced and so originality between Santana's models and Land Rover's equivalents - a trend which lead to the companies position today. Up to the late 1980s the Santana models - supposed to be quickly and cheaply built versions of Land Rover's own product often ended up being superior to the Land Rover equivalent. For instance Santana models featured anatomical seats, disc-brakes, turbo diesel engines, taper-leaf springs, parabolic springs, and civilian specification Forward Control models before the Land Rover equivalents and even a civilian version of the Land Rover Lightweight called the "Ligero" which was never released by Land Rover.
Suzuki years
The Santana Motor Company ended its agreement with Land Rover in 1983 but continued to develop its own range of vehicles which remained visually similar to Land Rover's Series and Defender range.The Santana Motor Company began a relationship with Suzuki
Suzuki
is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Hamamatsu, Japan that specializes in manufacturing compact automobiles and 4x4 vehicles, a full range of motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles , outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a variety of other small internal combustion engines...
in the early 1980s when Suzuki bought a 20% stake in the company and from 1986 Santana started to produce licensed versions of Suzuki
Suzuki
is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Hamamatsu, Japan that specializes in manufacturing compact automobiles and 4x4 vehicles, a full range of motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles , outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a variety of other small internal combustion engines...
models such as the Suzuki Jimny
Suzuki Jimny
The Suzuki Jimny is a line of SUVs from Suzuki. The line started in 1968 and is still running.-History:The history of Suzuki four-wheel-drive cars dates to 1968. Suzuki bought former Japanese automaker Hope Motor Company which had introduced fifteen small off-road vehicles called the HopeStar...
/SJ and Suzuki Vitara. Although many of its products like the Santana Series VI/2500 were still visually similar to those of the Land Rover range the company moved even closer to Suzuki in 1991 when Suzuki gained a 49% in the company becoming the majority shareholder. A name change followed to Santana Motor,SA in the same year.
By the mid-1990s Santana's relationship with Land Rover seemed to have completely ceased as it was now only producing licensed Suzuki models and production of the Santana Series VI/2500; the last Santana with visual similarities to Land Rover's current utility equivalent - the Defender, ended in 1994. The end of production of the Series VI/2500 was forced by the new owners Suzuki who restructured the company and the production machinery and tooling for the Series VI/2500 was sold to Morattab
Morattab
Morattab is an SUV manufacturer based in Tehran, Iran. Since 1962, the company has produced clone versions of the Series Land Rover. The currently produced models are versions of the "Series IV" made by Santana Motor of Spain until the early 1990s, when the production tooling and design were sold...
- an Iranian motor company.
In March 1995, Suzuki decided to desinvest from Santana. Suzuki kept the distribution network under the exclusive name of Suzuki and sold the car factory to the Government of the Region of Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
for one peseta
Peseta
Peseta may refer to:*The Spanish peseta, the former currency of Spain*The Catalan peseta, the former currency of Catalonia*The Equatorial Guinean peseta, the former currency of Equatorial Guinea...
.
Nevertheless the company continued to manufacture new models of cars for Suzuki. Suzuki signed a new license contract with an agreement to produce new diesel engined Santana models of Suzuki off roaders. This contract was extended in 1997 to 2006. Additionally, Santana's continuous development of the Land Rover Defender design led to the production of the PS-10. The PS-10 was released as a concept vehicle in 1999, but production of the PS-10 did not actually begin until 2002.
Iveco cooperation
In 2006 IvecoIveco
Iveco, an acronym for Industrial Vehicle Corporation, originally an alliance of European commercial vehicle manufacturers such as Fiat , Unic and Magirus. Iveco is now an Italian truck, bus, and diesel engine manufacturer, based in Turin...
and Santana signed a long-term agreement to co-develop products. The first offshoot of this co-production was the Iveco Massif
Iveco Massif
The Iveco Massif is a utility 4x4 vehicle mainly aimed at the utility services and military markets and is part of Iveco’s 4x4 and off-road range which also includes the Trakker lorry and Daily 4x4 van. Massif was produced by Santana Motors from 2007 to 2011 and it's rebadged and restyled version...
, a rebadged and restyled version of the Santana PS-10. The Santana produced Massif will go into direct competition with the Land Rover Defender, the direct descendant of the original utility Series Land Rover which spawned the entire Santana Motor Company.
In 2008 FIAT-Iveco
Iveco
Iveco, an acronym for Industrial Vehicle Corporation, originally an alliance of European commercial vehicle manufacturers such as Fiat , Unic and Magirus. Iveco is now an Italian truck, bus, and diesel engine manufacturer, based in Turin...
announced that it has signed an option to buy Andalusian government owned Santana Motor, depending on the success of Massif
Iveco Massif
The Iveco Massif is a utility 4x4 vehicle mainly aimed at the utility services and military markets and is part of Iveco’s 4x4 and off-road range which also includes the Trakker lorry and Daily 4x4 van. Massif was produced by Santana Motors from 2007 to 2011 and it's rebadged and restyled version...
.
Endgame
With the change of industrial partner from Suzuki to Fiat-IvecoIveco
Iveco, an acronym for Industrial Vehicle Corporation, originally an alliance of European commercial vehicle manufacturers such as Fiat , Unic and Magirus. Iveco is now an Italian truck, bus, and diesel engine manufacturer, based in Turin...
, Santana broke its relations with Suzuki in 2009 and since then it no longer made any Suzuki car under license. The breaking of the partnership with Santana meant that in many countries like Spain, Suzuki no longer supported the cars that were made by Santana under the Suzuki license and brand, and addressed the owners to Santana because it considered them as Santana's cars. This represents a serious problem for many Suzuki versions that were exclusively made by Santana, from which it is difficult to find new parts.
Because Suzuki had kept the distribution network owned by Santana before, Santana was not able to sell the cars that it was manufacturing under its own brand. Only the access to the commecial network of Iveco would have allowed the company to go on. However, In 2010, the sales of the Iveco Massif
Iveco Massif
The Iveco Massif is a utility 4x4 vehicle mainly aimed at the utility services and military markets and is part of Iveco’s 4x4 and off-road range which also includes the Trakker lorry and Daily 4x4 van. Massif was produced by Santana Motors from 2007 to 2011 and it's rebadged and restyled version...
were not as expected and Iveco decided to stop the agreement with Santana.
In 2011 the owner of the company, the Government of Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
, decided to close the Santana Motor company and its car factory and 1,341 people were laid off or retired prematurely. From 6,692 cars made in 2007, the company manufactured 1,197 in 2009 and no more than 769 in 2010.
Past models (incomplete)
- Santana Series II 1958-62
- Santana Series IIa 1962-1974
- Santana Series III 1974-1979
- Santana Series IIIa 1979-1983 (a version of the Land Rover Series III with improvements carried out to common flaws of the model by the Santana Company themselves).
- Santana Series VI (also known as Santana 2500) 1983-1994 (Santana's answer to Land Rover's launch of the 90 and 110 range).
- Santana 1300 Forward Control 1967-1978 (equivalent to Land Rover's Series IIa/IIb Forward Control).
- Santana 2000 Forward Control 1978-? (equivalent to Land Rover's 101 Forward Control).
- Santana Militar 1969-? (Santana's equivalent of Land Rover's military vehicle - the Lightweight).
- Santana Ligero 1980-? (A civilian version of the Militar).
- Santana Cazorla 1982-?
- Santana Anibal / Santana PS-10, the Santana Anibal or PS-10 is built on the basis of the Land Rover 109.
- Santana 300/350, The Santana 300 and 350 is a copy of the Suzuki Vitara produced under licence. The 300 is a 3-door model, the 350 is a 5-door
- Suzuki Samurai
- Suzuki JimnySuzuki JimnyThe Suzuki Jimny is a line of SUVs from Suzuki. The line started in 1968 and is still running.-History:The history of Suzuki four-wheel-drive cars dates to 1968. Suzuki bought former Japanese automaker Hope Motor Company which had introduced fifteen small off-road vehicles called the HopeStar...
- Suzuki Vitara
- Iveco MassifIveco MassifThe Iveco Massif is a utility 4x4 vehicle mainly aimed at the utility services and military markets and is part of Iveco’s 4x4 and off-road range which also includes the Trakker lorry and Daily 4x4 van. Massif was produced by Santana Motors from 2007 to 2011 and it's rebadged and restyled version...
(produced jointly with IvecoIvecoIveco, an acronym for Industrial Vehicle Corporation, originally an alliance of European commercial vehicle manufacturers such as Fiat , Unic and Magirus. Iveco is now an Italian truck, bus, and diesel engine manufacturer, based in Turin...
,essentially a rebadged and branded PS-10)