Ssangyong has found a new buyer
- Korean automaker Ssangyong avoids bankruptcy for the third time, this time thanks to the takeover by the South Korean family consortium KG Group, which specializes in chemicals and steel. The South Korean authorities have thus found a local solution, preventing a takeover by a foreign company, such as China's SAIC (after the first bankruptcy) or India's Mahindra (after the second bankruptcy). South Korean authorities believe that it is easier to continue the Ssangyong brand with the help of a local buyer.
- Ssangyong has a production capacity of 150,000 vehicles per year in South Korea. However, in 2021, production volume was very low (82 000 units) and has fallen to almost half of its capacity.
- The current model range is reduced to four models, all of which are SUVs: Tivoli (B-segment), Korando (C-segment), Rexton (D-segment) and Torres, the recently unveiled new SUV for the D-segment that will gradually replace the Rexton. The Torres has been very well received in the South Korean market and in exports, and already allows the brand to greatly increase its sales in 2022 compared to 2021 (over 110,000 units). Without the Torres, Ssangyong's sales would have fallen to 60,000 units by 2022.
- Ssangyong had accumulated six years of debt totaling $267 million, which had been reimbursed or was about to be reimbursed by the KG Group consortium. Like the previous candidate (Edison Motors) to acquire Ssangyong, the KG Group consortium has claimed that the future of the Korean brand will be electric. Ssangyong's first electric SUV is expected to hit the market in 2023.
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