SsangYong Motor will change its name to KG Mobility, as the automaker is coming out of a long period of financial difficulties leading to its recent bankruptcy. The decision was taken by KG Group which owns the majority stake in Ssangyong.
As reported by the Korea Herald, the announcement was made during an event held by the Korea Automobile Journalists Association at Four Seasons Hotel Seoul. In order for SsangYong Motor to officially become KG Mobility, the new name needs to be approved by the general shareholders meeting this March, something that is considered a given.
Read: All-New SsangYong Torres Debuts In Korea With Rugged Looks, $21K Starting Price
KG Group, a Korean company specializing in steel and chemicals, acquired a 61.86% stake in SsangYong Motors last August after the automaker went into receivership. The goal of the new name which will be combined with a redesigned logo and a new corporate identity is to leave the past behind and start a new era for the company. It is also a sign that the new owner wants to transform the company into a mobility brand.
Kwak Jea-sun, KG Group Chairman said that the name change was “an extremely difficult decision”, but in the end, they opted for a complete overhaul instead of taking the easy road to keep the SsangYong and dropping the Motor from the old name. Kwak said: “The name – SsangYong Motor – has a fandom with good memories, but it also has a painful image. From now, all SsangYong cars will come out to the world under the name of KG. Even with the name change, SsangYong Motor’s history will not change”.
This is not the first name change in the long history of the oldest Korean automaker. Dong-hwan Motor was founded in 1954, and in 1963 merged with Dongbang Motor to create the Ha Dong-hwan Motor Corporation. In 1977, the company was renamed to Dong-A Motor and in 1984 it was acquired by Keohwa. In 1986 it was bought by SsangYong Business Group and got its final SsangYong Motor name in 1988, retaining it for the next 35 years. Over this period, SsangYong Motor passed under the control of Daewoo Group, SAIC, and Mahindra who was the last owner before the bankruptcy, following a long search for buyers and a failed takeover by Edison Motors.
It remains to be seen how the KG Mobility era will affect the design of SsangYong Motor’s SUV models. The current lineup includes the Tivoli, XLV, Korando, Rexton, and Musso pickup, alongside the all-new Torres that debuted in 2022 as the last SUV with the SsangYong badge.
