The oldest Korean car manufacturer is giving up its name: SsangYong wants to shed its “painful image” and appear as “KG” in the future.
The brand is to be renamed KG Mobility later this year. This was announced by Kwak Jea-sun, CEO of KG Group, in Seoul. “The name – SsangYong Motor – has a fan base with good memories, but it also has a painful image,” said Kwak.KG, which has held a majority stake of around 62 percent in the automaker since 2022. According to a report by the Korea Herald, the name change is to be officially approved at a meeting with other shareholders in March and will be practically implemented before the end of this year. SsangYong vehicles will henceforth bear the KG logo. The new logo will also change the marketing strategy and the company identity. The renaming to KG Mobility marks, among other things, the change from a classic car manufacturer to a mobility provider with electrically powered and autonomously driving vehicles. Giving up an identity of an internationally renowned car brand like SsangYong that has been built up over almost 40 years is an unusual step. However, SsangYong can look back on a number of image-damaging bankruptcies and changes of ownership. The company was originally founded in January 1954 as the Ha Dong-hwan Motor Workshop, which manufactured jeeps for the United States Army. After a few eventful years, the SsangYong Group got involved in the mid-1980s and changed the company name to SsangYong Motor. After a technology partnership with Daimler-Benz, Daewoo took over the helm for a few years, and in 2004 SAIC took over 48.9% of the shares. In January 2009, bankruptcy protection was applied for and production was stopped for a short time. In February 2011, the Indian Mahindra & Mahindra Limited took over. On December 21, 2020, SsangYong filed for bankruptcy. A takeover that initially seemed to have taken place in January 2022 fell through again at the end of March 2022, and SsangYong had to continue looking for partners. Now the hopes are on the KG Group.
source site-13