Has the SsangYong brand been rescued?

Remember quirky Korean brand SsangYong? It’s been out of our market for a while now, but the brand has been soldiering on in its Korean home market and several other overseas markets, though success remained limited.

Having changed hands several times in the last two decades, the brand finally ran aground when it filed for bankruptcy in Dec 2020 whilst under the stewardship of India’s Mahindra group. At that point, it was drowning in overdue debt reportedly worth KRW315.3 billion (US$232 million), and went into receivership in April 2021.

However, recent reports coming out of South Korea indicate that the brand will not be killed off just yet. Korean media are reporting that a South Korean court has approved the sale of the carmaker to a consortium led by South Korean chemical and steel company KG Group.

KG Group’s bid, which included a debt-settling plan submitted in court, reportedly received ‘overwhelming’ support from creditors and other related parties. In fact, the firm’s bid of KRW950 billion (US$705 million+) stood over three times higher than the bid by Edison Motors – a South Korean electric busmaker that was initially vying to takeover SsangYong earlier this year.

Furthermore, reports also say that SsangYong could break out of its court-led debt rescheduling program within this year, provided all the planned debt payments are completed as scheduled. Debts not settled in cash, on the other hand, will reportedly be converted into equity instead.

With its rescue by KG Group, it appears SsangYong will continue developing its new Torres and KR10 models, as well as facilitate the company’s transition towards all-electric models. It is understood that the latter will be a large part of its rehabilitation plan.

If all goes well, we won’t discount the possibility of seeing this quirky Korean marque reemerge in markets worldwide – ours included – soon enough. SsangYong was previously operated by local custodians Competitive Supreme until at least 2013 before it ceased operations.