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.[11] 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, Tempo in Germany and Morattab company in Iran, all built Series Land Rovers under licence. An agreement was reached in 1956 and production began in 1958 it was licensed to build Land Rover models. The Santana Motor company built Series Land Rovers under licence in CKD form (Complete Knocked Down kits); essentially parts were shipped over from the Land Rover factory in Solihull and the Land Rovers were built up from this 'kit' at the Santana factory in Spain. From 1960 to 1961 a growing percentage of parts started being manufactured in Spain. By 1968 100% of the vehicles components were locally produced. Apart from minor details (electric system, rear tailgate) the Spanish built Land Rover were identical to their Solihull counterparts and their quality was comparable.
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 the company to change its name from "Metalúrgica de Santa Ana, SA" to "Land Rover Santana, SA".[11] From 1964 until the mid-1970s, Santana also manufactured a Commer walk-through truck for the local market.
In 1962 the company became responsible for promoting the Santana and Land Rover brands in Central and South American Markets as well as Africa. CKD kits were also supplied to the Moroccan and Costa Rican markets by the company. Because of the harsh working lives vehicles endured 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 in this period of British Leyland (which owned Land Rover), Santana's 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 thus arose a degree of originality in Santana's models compared to Land Rover's original products – a trend that led to the company's 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 improved when compared to Land Rover's own vehicles. For instance, Santana models featured anatomical seats, disc-brakes, turbo diesel engines, taper-leaf springs, coil springs, and civilian-specification Forward Control versions before the Land Rover equivalents and there was even a civilian version of the Land Rover Lightweight called the "Ligero" which was never released by Land Rover.[11]
Land Rover and Santana Motor Company ended their non-competitive agreement with Land Rover in 1983. The newer Land Rover 110 and 90 were, in some markets, directly competing against Santana's for the first time. Santana's continued to offer a more robust platform with leaf springs (instead of coil springs found on defender models) and heavier-duty axels.
The two companies continued to share most components and coordinate global sales in certain markets, with Santana continuing to sell to South America, Central America, Spain, and parts of Africa. Land Rover and Santana had a unique relationship with other markets as well, including Iran. Iran was the region's largest automotive market and the largest in the region for Land Rover. Secondary to sanctions put in place after the revolution in Iran, Land Rover was unable to sell directly to Iran or to Land Rover's long-time partner in the country, Morattab Khodro. Parts and complete knockdown kits were sold to Iran through Santana.
In 1990 Land Rover and Santana terminated their licensing agreement.
In 1994 Morattab Khodro purchased the entire production line for the Santana 2500 DL and DC range of vehicles.
Suzuki years
The Santana Motor Company began a relationship with Suzuki in the early 1980s when Suzuki bought a 20% stake in the company and from 1986 Santana started to produce licensed versions of Suzuki models such as the Suzuki Jimny/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% stake in the company, becoming the controlling shareholder. A name change followed to Santana Motor, SA in the same year.[12]
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, now sold as 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 – an Iranian motor company.[12]
