Currently reading: Ssangyong plans new ‘design icon’ Wrangler rival
Korean SUV specialist mulls new high-design SUV to take it into North American market

Korea’s 60-year-old 4x4 brand Ssangyong is planning to open a new era in its history with the launch of a high-design SUV to build its brand equity – and with which to finally launch itself into the North American market.

Now 80-per-cent owned by Indian car-maker Mahindra, Ssangyong is introducing its Tivoli supermini crossover into global markets this summer: a €280mil car that’s expected to treble its European sales volume and return it to profitability. But company insiders have told Autocar that there’s enough spare capacity on the Tivoli’s Korean production line for a third derivative of the car, to follow the long-wheelbase version already scheduled for 2016.

A production version of the XAV concept shown at the Seoul motor show this April is currently under consideration, with much more esoteric, retro-chic styling than the Tivoli, intended to reference the ‘new’ Korando of 1996: one of the firm’s most successful and distinctive products to date.

“Ssangyong is effectively Korea’s answer to Land Rover and Jeep. We need to make better use of the power of our brand,” one company spokesperson told us.

“The company has never cracked North America because it requires a huge investment,” our source continued, “and because the distributor model that we use in other territories wouldn’t really work in the USA. But a Wrangler-style high-design 4x4 could create the waves we’d need in order to make a mark over there. At the same time, it’d work really well for us in the UK and Europe at a time when building profile is absolutely key.”

The car would be likely to use the same 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines as the Tivoli, although sources suggest that a petrol-electric plug-in hybrid could be on the drawing board, with that powertrain technology having been shown on the XAV concept itself. The word is that a three-cylinder, 1.1-litre turbocharged version of the firm’s newly developed ‘eXGi’ petrol engine is also under development.

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We drive Ssangyong's new small SUV, which isn't up with the best in class but is certainly worth consideration as a budget option

Matt Saunders

Matt Saunders Autocar
Title: Road test editor

As Autocar’s chief car tester and reviewer, it’s Matt’s job to ensure the quality, objectivity, relevance and rigour of the entirety of Autocar’s reviews output, as well contributing a great many detailed road tests, group tests and drive reviews himself.

Matt has been an Autocar staffer since the autumn of 2003, and has been lucky enough to work alongside some of the magazine’s best-known writers and contributors over that time. He served as staff writer, features editor, assistant editor and digital editor, before joining the road test desk in 2011.

Since then he’s driven, measured, lap-timed, figured, and reported on cars as varied as the Bugatti Veyron, Rolls-Royce PhantomTesla RoadsterAriel Hipercar, Tata Nano, McLaren SennaRenault Twizy and Toyota Mirai. Among his wider personal highlights of the job have been covering Sebastien Loeb’s record-breaking run at Pikes Peak in 2013; doing 190mph on derestricted German autobahn in a Brabus Rocket; and driving McLaren’s legendary ‘XP5’ F1 prototype. His own car is a trusty Mazda CX-5.

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Moparman 29 May 2015

The Suzuki model

This is what Suzuki did with the Samurai to get into the passenger vehicle market in the States. It had a fair amount of success as it was cute, cheap and available in trendy colours. However, the party ended when it was realized that the Samurai couldn't pass a sharp turn test let alone a moose test.
kcrally 29 May 2015

TATA are in massive losses

TATA are in massive losses these days. Mahindra ?