Santana Motors will resume vehicle production
- Founded in 1956, Santana Motors was a Spanish SUV carmaker based in Linares, Andalusia, Spain. The company began by producing Land Rover models under license, then expanded its range in 1967 with a model of its own design. In 1983, Land Rover, facing serious financial difficulties, ended its partnership with the Spanish carmaker Santana Motors, and the vehicles were subsequently rebranded as Santana, such as the Santana 2500. In 1985, Santana Motors partnered with the Japanese carmaker Suzuki to produce the Suzuki SJ and Suzuki Samurai, followed by the Suzuki Vitara . The collaboration between Santana Motors and Suzuki ended in 1999, and in 2006, a partnership began between Santana Motors and Iveco to produce the Massif. The Iveco Campagnola was launched in 2009. But the model proved to be a commercial failure and Santana Motors went bankrupt in 2011. From 6,692 vehicles produced in 2007, production had fallen to 769 in 2010.
- Santana Motors is relaunched in 2025 by a Chinese consortium that includes Dongfeng -Nissan, a joint venture between Dongfeng and Nissan. An assembly line is already operational at the Santana Motors plant in Linares, ready to assemble SKD pickup trucks (diesel and PHEV) based on the Dongfeng Z9/Nissan Frontier models produced in China. The European pickup truck market hovers around 80,000 units annually, despite the discontinuation of the Nissan Navara and Mitsubishi L200 a few years ago. The current market leader is the Ford Ranger, followed by the Toyota Hilux , Isuzu D-Max, and VW Amarok.
- A cooperation agreement has also been signed between Santana Motors and another Chinese company, BAIC Automotive Group, for the SKD assembly of a range of SUVs, which will be launched from the summer of 2026.