AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)03/23 Report--

According to media reports, South Korea Ssangyong Motor held a regular shareholders' meeting on March 22 and decided to change the company name to "KG MOBILITY" through the company name change case, which is the first time the company has changed its name in 35 years.

When "Automotive Industry concern" checked Ssangyong's official website, it found that the company's official website had officially changed its name to "KG MOBILITY". According to the report, Ssangyong will plan to accelerate the development of automobile-related technologies in the future and enter new fields such as used cars and specially equipped vehicles.

Ssangyong Motor (SsangYong Motor) is the fourth largest automobile manufacturer in South Korea, founded in 1954, mainly produces large passenger cars, special vehicles, automotive engines and spare parts, etc., its main model is SUV, mainly exported to Europe, Asia, Central and South America and Africa, more than 60 countries and regions. When combing the development process of Ssangyong Automobile, "Automotive Industry concern" found that Ssangyong Automobile was established not too late, but its development process is not smooth. Ssangyong Motor, formerly known as the Hedong Automobile Factory founded in 1954, initially mainly produced jeeps for the US military, began to produce special vehicles in 1976, was acquired by Ssangyong Group in 1988 and changed to Ssangyong Automobile, and has been using the name ever since. This is the first time that the company has changed its name in 35 years.

Ssangyong began to form a technical partnership with Daimler-Benz (now Daimler-Chrysler) in 1991. Ssangyong was acquired by Daewoo in 1997 and sold in 2000 because of financial problems in the Daewoo consortium. Ssangyong is also sold by different car companies for different reasons.

In 2001, Ssangyong officially entered the Chinese market and established Shenzhen Ssangyong Automobile sales Co., Ltd., which was one of the earliest overseas brands to enter the Chinese market at that time. However, because Ssangyong's multi-purpose four-wheel drive off-road model Rexton sold in the Chinese market is expensive (as high as 480000 yuan), almost no one is interested in opening the Chinese market.

In 2004, Shanghai Automotive Industry (Group) Corporation (hereinafter referred to as "SAIC") bought a 49% stake in Ssangyong Motor for US $500m, and completed the equity delivery procedures of Ssangyong Motor Company in South Korea on January 27th, 2005. SAIC acquired a 51.33% stake in Ssangyong Motor and officially became its largest shareholder. since then, Ssangyong Automobile has focused on the medium-and high-grade four-wheel drive off-road vehicle and sedan market, including luxury CHAIRMAN. Four-wheel drive off-road vehicle REXTON,KORANDO,MUSSO and luxury MPV RODIUS and so on. However, after the acquisition, Ssangyong's operation has not improved. Because of its poor management and the impact of the economic crisis in 2008, Ssangyong filed for bankruptcy protection in January 2009. in this context, SAIC originally wanted to buy Ssangyong, but it was opposed by South Korean trade unions and ended in failure.

The merger and acquisition cooperation between Ssangyong Motor and SAIC was terminated in 2009. The following year, Ssangyong was acquired by Indian car giant Mahindra&Mahindra, which bought a 70 per cent stake in Ssangyong for 522.5 billion won, making it the new owner of Ssangyong.

In 2015, Ssangyong launched the Tivoli model, positioning the compact SUV, and once won the favor of consumers in the market. Under the main force of Tivoli models, Ssangyong made a net profit of 58 billion won in 2016. Unfortunately, after a brief highlight, Ssangyong soon fell into a state of loss. Data show that from 2017 to 2019, Ssangyong posted net losses of 66 billion won, 62 billion won and 341 billion won, respectively. By 2020, Ssangyong's operating losses were still expanding, reaching 215.8 billion won (about 1.265 billion yuan) in the first half of the year alone, close to its total loss of 281.9 billion won (1.652 billion yuan) in 2019. This year, Ma Hengda had planned to inject 230 billion won (about 1.35 billion yuan) into Ssangyong over the next three years, but the decision was rejected by the board of directors in July 2022 due to external factors such as the epidemic. Since then, Mahindra is willing to give up control of Ssangyong and find a suitable buyer for it.

In October, the market reported that Edison Motors, a new car-building company, would buy Ssangyong for about 223 million euros or become a new acquirer of Ssangyong, which would be the third time that Ssangyong had been acquired. Ssangyong has been looking for potential acquirers ever since Ssangyong announced on March 28, 2022 that the proposed equity deal had been cancelled because Edison missed the payment deadline, meaning that the deal eventually fell through.

As a well-known car company in South Korea, the fall of Ssangyong Motor is sad. Ssangyong has been unable to open the market since its establishment, and Ssangyong has been unable to reverse the situation by being acquired by car companies such as SAIC of China and Maheng of India. The industry believes that Ssangyong, as one of the representatives of a traditional car company, has serious homogenization in the global competition, and the main reason for the failure may be related to its lack of core technology and the lack of products to rest on its laurels.

It is reported that Ssangyong will debut the first batch of photos of the new Torres EVX at the 2023 Seoul Motor Show on March 30, and announce a total of 16 concept cars and production cars, of which the appearance of the new Torres EVX model will remove the Ssangyong brand element because the company will change its name to KG Mobility, but will keep the Ssangyong badge on the steering wheel. In addition, Ssangyong will also overhaul the logo and corporate logo, but so far, no official details have been released.

According to the latest news, after changing its name, Ssangyong will accelerate the development of automobile-related technology and enter new fields such as used cars and specially equipped vehicles, which may be a new opportunity for Ssangyong. It will take more time to verify whether Ssangyong can usher in a new look at that time.

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