Now that the acquisition process is over, Ssangyong’s new owner Mahindra & Mahindra is not wasting any time to leverage the benefits that come with the new deal. Pawan Goenka, President – Automotive & Farm Equipment Sectors, M&M who is also now the chairman of Ssangyong that there’s “lot of work” between Mahindra and Ssangyong engineers happening on the product side. An R&D team of M&M has already visited Ssangyong’s facility in South Korea and they have already started work on aggregates for future platforms.
The next advantage that Mahindra is looking at leveraging is sourcing. Towards that objective, M&M will hold its annual vendor meet in Korea this year.
Product and brand development at Ssangyong are key areas where Mahindra &Mahindra will invest heavily to strengthen the Korean brand. Close to Rs. 1,000 crore will be invested in these areas during 2011.
Addressing the media, Goenka said that Ssangyong will see its operating loss come down this year, from 55 billion Korean Won in 2010. The company is targeting a 50 percent jump in its sales this year to 1.21 lakh units from 81,000 units last year.
Preparations are already on to launch the Ssangyong Rexton and the Korando C in India. These SUVs will be assembled at Mahindra & Mahindra’s Chakan plant. The Rexton will share the assembly line with Mahindra Ingenio, while the Koranado C will be assembled in the line which will produce Mahindra’s global SUV code named W 201.
Mahindra & Mahindra owns a 70 percent stake in Ssangyong bought at a price of around Rs. 2,100 crore. The rest of the company is owned by the public.
Uday Singh
Dipan Sur
Glenn Noronha
Viraaj Bhatnagar
