South Korean car maker Ssangyong, a part of Mahindra group now plans to make making India a manufacturing base. Ssangyong will roll out its Rexton and Korando C SUVs in India later this year. The Rexton will first make its debut which will be assembled as a CKD at Mahindra’s Chakan plant.
Choi Jong-sik, Ssangyong’s vice-president, sales, said the company plans to invest over $1.2 billion over the next three to five years, which will help it roll out four new products and their variants.
Ssangyong also plans manufacturing and exporting smaller compact and sub-compact SUVs being jointly developed with majority stakeholder Mahindra & Mahindra.
M&M and Ssangyong are jointly developing a sub-compact SUV, codenamed S101, which is likely to take on hatchbacks in India with a 3-4 lakh price tag. And the Ssangyong derivative of the same product is being considered for manufacturing and exports out of India.
M&M has started talks with Indian vendors for localisation of some key parts of Rexton and Korando C to bring down cost. Vendors are also participating in the development of the S101. Experts say Ssangyong’s consideration of India as a manufacturing base is driven by factors such as Indian ownership, lower cost of manufacturing, synergies of joint development and joint manufacturing.
Info source: ET
