Intro: The automobile division of the Metalurgia de Santana Ana, S.A. company was established back in the 1950s as the Land Rover Santana, S.A. which started assembling the British off-roaders in 1959.
By the 1980s the company wanted a product to complement their Land Rover production. In the meantime the Japanese Suzuki company looked for a way to allocate more of their SJ-series off-roaders to the European market. So they took a 20 per cent shareholding in Santana which in turn started churning out the SJ-series as well. This arrangement resulted in over 60 per cent European content, allowing the vehicles to be exempt from the given quota.
In 1991 Suzuki took a 49 per cent stake and reshuffled the company. Land Rover was out so the name was changed to Santana Motor, S.A. The latest deal which was made in 1997 secures the Suzuki participation until 2006.
But Santana is in need of more models. In 2001 only 22736 vehicles were produced while in 2000 33821 resulting in a loss of 301 million Euros. That's why at the recent Madrid Motorshow the Anibal (Hanibal), a Land Rover Defender-based off-roader powered by an Iveco 2.8-liter turbodiesel engine was presented which will go on-sale this autumn. |
