Santana who? What? At least many Landy drivers still know Santana Motor S.A. from Spain. For many years they built the Land Rover series under licence, and often better. Later Suzukis were added. In the end the company belonged to Iveco, produced the Massif and was closed in 2011. Now a joint venture that Nissan is part of wants to relaunch the classic.
In 1956 the company Metalúrgica de Santa Ana was founded as a maker of agricultural machinery, as part of an economic programme by the Spanish dictator Franco. From 1958 they first built the Land Rover Series 2, later the Series 3 under licence, supplied partly better gearboxes to Land Rover and responded faster and better to customer criticism than Land Rover did. Suzuki also had the Jimny and Samurai models built there under licence from 1986. Even the rather less known Land Rover 101 FWC originally comes from Santana. There it ran under the name Santana 2000.
In 1983 Land Rover ended the partnership, and from then on Santana built its own version, the Santana 2500, and finally the PS10. In 2008 FIAT-Iveco signed a cooperation agreement with the aim of taking over Santana if the newest model, the Iveco Massif, became a success. It didn’t, and so the partnership was ended in 2010. In 2011 the plant was closed. With that, the story of Santana Motors S.A. was over, for the time being.
The Santana plan: sturdy off-roaders and pick-ups
Now it’s official: on 28 April 2025 an investor group made up of Zhengzhou Nissan (ZNA) and Anhui Coronet Tech signed a contract to bring a reliable, tough off-roader and pick-up model to market. The Ineos Grenadier concept is certainly seen as a model here, though the Grenadier is struggling with technical problems and weak sales.
The new Santana models are to be priced well below the Ineos Grenadier. That gives them good potential to attract the customers who fancy a Grenadier but aren’t willing to accept the price. Jeep Wrangler customers are in the sights too, for whom the Wrangler 4xe model is too watered down. The aim is to fill the gap that all 4×4 enthusiasts currently see: there’s no genuinely affordable off-roader below the 60,000 euro line.
You’ll find more about the project and the current plans on the homepage of Santana Motors S.A.