SsangYong set for manufacturer-backed Oz operation

AFTER several years locked in a holding pattern, South Korean SUV specialist SsangYong will return to Australia next year with a full manufacturer-backed model range.

Senior Executive Director of SsangYong’s Export Headquarters, Daniel H. Rim, confirmed at the Frankfurt motor show that the brand would transition from being handled by importer Ateco to being fully supported by head office.

“We’re going through due diligence now, setting up the operation, setting up the distribution centre, it’s all in the works, and hopefully soon we’ll start retailing again.”

Sales of SsangYong’s previous line-up had stagnated due to a difference of opinion with Ateco over where the brand should be positioned in the fit-to-burst Australian market but Rim believes a virtually all-new model range and full factory support will give SsangYong a strong chance of success.

“The Q200 [new-gen pick-up], in short and long [tray lengths], along with the new Rexton, Tivoli (above), Korando, we’ll bring them all back to Australia. Australia is an important market for us and it’s a tough market, but I think we have a strategy that will work this time.”

“Since we will start our own distribution I think it will be more competitive, and we’ll be handling our own marketing so we’ll prioritise our own spending … we’ll be more competitive and we’ll be more efficient.”

Leading the change will be the imposing new-generation Rexton, launched at the Seoul Motor Show earlier this year with a 133kW 2.2-litre turbo-diesel four, but set to receive a 2.0-litre direct-injection turbo-petrol four next month.

In automatic guise, the diesel runs a Mercedes-Benz 7G-tronic seven-speed ’box, as well as multi-link IRS (five-link live axle on manuals), though all Rextons retain Prado-rivalling separate-chassis construction and three-tonne towing capacity.

SsangYong’s Australian model range will also include the handsome Tivoli small SUV – launched at Geneva in 2015 but freshly updated with new lights, wheels, and trims – however it’s the Rexton-based utility, due later in 2018, that gives SsangYong its best chance of achieving decent sales volume in Australia, given our unwavering lust for dual-cab utes.

“Typically I think we’ve [achieved] 3000-4000 [sales] in the past and I think it would be easy to top that”, says Rim. “Our dealers would very much like to see us come back and work with them properly. So we’re looking to utilising the existing network, and of course we need to build on from what we have today. We obviously have to start with the metropolitan areas first and expand our coverage.”

According to Ateco spokesperson Edward Rowe, the SsangYong change-over process began in June, but there’s no firm date as to when SsangYong will re-launch, merely “within the next 12 months” according to Rim, though “hopefully much earlier than that”.

And expect SsangYong to support its fresh model range with a Korean-style warranty. “We’ll be as competitive as anybody, like Kia and Hyundai. We have to be. And we’re confident with our quality we can offer a good coverage in warranty.”