Ssangyong Motor Co Ltd wishes to make India its second biggest export market, by making the most of parent firm Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd’s supremacy of the nation’s flourishing SUV segment.
India is an unexploited market zone for the South Korean auto manufacturer that counts up Europe as well as Latin America as its two major export terminuses. The auto manufacturer exported two thirds of its yield during the last fiscal, and is eyeing promising regions like Russia and South Africa in addition to India for its luxury sport utility vehicles.
“This is the most advantageous market reagion for the company,” stated Yoo-Il Lee, Ssangyong chief executive officer.
“I am really positive that India will turn into Ssangyong’s second biggest export region,” he added, without supplying inside information. The company does not provide a breakdown of its export regions by sales.
Ssangyong, which rolled out its first car in the Indian market on October 17, will fabricate the Rexton at Mahindra plant in the city of Pune, western India, annulling pricey import tariffs.
Ssangyong will market its cars together with Mahindra sport utility vehicles in the Indian car manufacturer’s sales outlets, but as the South Korean models are more overpriced as compared to the India ones, will not vie against them for market share.
Mahindra reigns India’s increasingly jam-packed sport utility vehicle market, where it sold four times as many of the vehicles than its nearest competitor, Tata Motors Ltd, during the past financial year, which ended during the month of March.
Ssangyong is entering into a segment where international motor companies are efficiently growing. Ford Motor Co stated during the month of January that it would spend around USD 142 million to upgrade its Indian facility to fabricate the EcoSport sport utility vehicle, due for launch in 2013, and Renault SA introduced its first India-specific sport utility vehicle, the Duster, in June.
The South Korean company, which was close to insolvency before Mahindra paid $460 million for a bulk equity stake during March 2011, proposes to bring extra models to the nation by the next few years, Chairman Pawan Goenka stated.
The sport utility vehicle market is rising quickly due to a slew of new models, growing ambitions and buying power among drivers, and generous administration subsidies on diesel fuel.
Sales of passenger utility cars remained up by 56% during the first six months of the financial, which started during April from a year earlier, whilst sales of cars remained down by 0.3%, as per the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.
