#ssangyong

The Chevrolet LUV may have been one of the dorkier car names in the annals of automotive history, but it’s arguably better than the moniker of its Japanese counterpart, the Isuzu Faster. Korean car maker SsangYong’s new truck, the Korando Sports, is being dubbed the “Leisure Utility Vehicle”, and if parent company Mahindra can get their act together, the USA stands a chance of getting some LUV in the future.

The drawn-out drama of who would get what was left of the busted SAIC-Ssangyong deal has come to an – at least preliminary- end. Oneindia reports that India’s Mahindra & Mahindra bought the pieces of Korean Ssangyong. TTAC readers are not surprised.

Since Mahindra doesn’t seem to be giving its self-destructed US distribution channel much attention, we couldn’t help but wonder what exactly is more important to the Indian firm than a little PR the world’s second [sigh] largest car market in the world. The answer, of course, is its acquisition of Ssangyong, a South Korean automaker known only to Americans as the maker of the legendarily ugly Rodius (to be fair, regular TTAC readers may also recall Ssangyong’s bid for world’s ugliest bankruptcy declaration). But the meeting point between Ssangyong and Mahindra isn’t styling, it’s diesel and four-wheel-drive.

Despite the fact that Ssangyong is still technically in receivership, there are still 25 dealers selling its products in Australia on the strength of the motto “We Live Diesel,” while Mahindra has 40 diesel-only Australian dealers. Recently Ssangyong revived the nameplate given to its original product, Korando, for a new model that reportedly launches in Australia later this year. Looking at the evolution of the Korando, from original CJ7 clone to the forthcoming model (which reportedly boasts a 174 hp, 337 lb-ft “German-designed” diesel engine, and available FWD or AWD), one can’t help but wonder where Mahindra sees itself going.

I know that stories about who will buy a down and out Korean carmaker called Ssangyong are not a major click-through magnet. Therefore, just for the record: Ssangyong selected India’s Mahindra & Mahindra as the preferred bidder to acquire a majority stake. And just in case, they named India’s Raghav Industries as the secondary preferred bidder, says The Nikkei [sub].

Times must be good again. Rarely has the bidding for a down and out automaker been so hot as for distressed Ssangyong in Korea. Today was the deadline for putting in binding for a majority stake in the sorry little thing. Two of the six presumptive bidders did a cop-out.

Ssangyong has been under court-led bankruptcy protection since early 2009. Today, at 0600 Zulu the bids had to be in. No messing around like with Opel in Berlin, there are Korean courts involved.

India’s Mahindra & Mahindra is putting in a binding bid to buy a majority stake in troubled South Korean automaker Ssangyong Motor. Ssangyong went bankrupt in 2009 after China’s SAIC dropped the ball. They nearly went up in flames, when militant workers incited a riot and threatened to blow up the paint shop.

A very strange spy scandal is brewing between (South) Korea and China. Acting on a tip of the (South) Korean National Intelligence Service (the Korean equivalent of the CIA and FBI rolled into one,) Korean state prosecutors accused China’s SAIC of stealing sensitive state secrets from Korea.

Then, they indicted seven senior Korean engineers at Korea’s Ssangyong on charges of leaking technology essential to develop hybrid cars.