Corporate Name Change
March 10 (Yonhap) – Ssangyong Motor Co., South Korea’s fourth-largest carmaker, is in the early stages of moving to change its name as it starts to refresh its vehicle lineup for 2015 and expand its presence overseas, a corporate source said Monday.
The move that has been mentioned by the company’s CEO Lee You-il since last year calls for a change in the name and the marque of the carmaker.
“The Ssangyong name has become synonymous with labor disputes, which brought on the need for a new image,” an insider said. He also said that the Ssangyong name, while familiar to Koreans, is hard to pronounce in other languages, which may not be ideal for a company seeking to expand its market presence abroad.
Since the company was first founded in 1954, it has changed hands several times, with even China’s Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp owning the carmaker at one point. One of its former bosses, Daewoo Group, which bought the carmaker in 1998 and managed it for about a year, eventually went bankrupt. The present name was adopted when the company was incorporated into the Ssangyong Group in 1986.
The idea of a name change gained momentum as the company plans to launch its all-new X100 compact crossover utility vehicle next year, followed by new models in the coming years. The move is expected to revamp the carmaker’s lineup and make it more appealing to consumers.
In 2013, Ssangyong’s revenue reached a record high of 3.48 trillion won (US$3.27 billion) with domestic sales surging 34.1 percent to 63,970 units. Its exports shot up 11.9 percent to 81,679 vehicles. The increase in sales is the highest reported among South Korea’s five automakers.
Of the 160,000 vehicles it wants to sell this year, the carmaker is aiming to ship out 91,000 units and wants to diversify its overseas markets that have been centered in Russia and Latin America. This year, Ssangyong said it wants to make a greater push into Europe and China, with plans being reviewed to enter the North American market around 2017, although nothing has been decided.
Related to the name change, the company said its current owner, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., an Indian sport utility vehicle maker that bought the company in 2011, has been consulted.
It added that it may consult the general public to get recommendations for an appropriate new name that can appeal both inside Korea and to the rest of the world. The company said talks have been carried out with union workers, and a preliminary field survey is being conducted abroad.
Such efforts are needed because the name change will result in a considerable outlay to change logos on all car dealerships and repair shops, the company said.