SsangYong finally finds a buyer

Friday, 22 October 2021

SsangYong has found a buyer after nearly a year of bankruptcy.

After nearly a year of bankruptcy, South Korean manufacturer, SsangYong, has found a buyer.

According to Nikkei Asia, Edison Motors is currently the preferred bidder, with the deal worth around US$260 million (NZ$363.5 million). The deal is expected to be finalised by the end of November after a two-week due-diligence examination of the company.

Take a look at the all-new SsangYong Korando, it might surprise you - it sure surprised us, and in a very good way.

Edison has been around since 2015, building electric buses, scooters and commercial trucks. SsangYong’s plans for electric passenger vehicles would let Edison expand into lucrative new areas without investing heavily in building new platforms and components itself.

Meanwhile, Edison’s battery technology will give SsangYong’s upcoming EVs a boost in range, from the current 300km estimates to 450km or even 800km in some cases.

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An electrified Rhino ute is also likely in the cards.

Unfortunately for the South Korean brand, the acquisition wouldn’t be enough by itself to settle its debts, reported to be in the region of US$285 million when it when filed for bankruptcy in December 2020.

According to The Korea Herald, a consortium led by Edison and its CEO, Kang Young-kwon, could channel up to $1.1 billion for the purchase and post-purchase revival programme.

Kang wants to turn SsangYong into a major rival to global EV makers like Tesla, Volkswagen and GM. And while previous owners with more funding than Edison have tried and failed with SsangYong, he believes there is still potential.

“I would not be considering acquiring SsangYong if I did not believe in its potential. There is no reason to put my company at risk,” Kang told The Korea Herald, adding that Edison Motors was already competitive in its own field, with interested investors.

SsangYong’s EVs include the Korando e-Motion, an all-electric version of the Korando SUV, due here at some stage in the future. When it was revealed back in August, Stuff reached out to SsangYong's local distributor for more information and was told that it is “most definitely” in its future product plans, although there's no firm date for right-hand drive production just yet.

However, as it is thought to be based on the Mahindra Electric Scalable and Modular Architecture (MEMSA), the electric Korando may get an early refresh for an Edison-designed platform.

A plug-in version of the Rhino ute is also expected.

Another new model in SsangYong’s pipeline is the X200 off-roader, which has only been previewed in sketch form so far. It is expected to come in both combustion and electrified trims.

It has round LED headlights with a pinched, X-shaped motif in the centre, bookending a slotted grille that could be on the wrong side of a lawsuit if it looks too similar to Jeep’s trademark grille. Vertical fog lights are either side of a solid-looking bash plate.

The fact that it looks remarkably similar to a Jeep is probably more than just a coincidence. SsangYong says the X200 is “inspired by its past” and the Korean maker used to build the Jeep CJ-5 under licence, back in the 1970s and 1980s, which eventually became the Korando.