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Global retailers demand more Ssangyong cars

By Lee Ji-yoon

JEJU – Up to 100 representatives of Ssangyong Motor retailers worldwide gathered here on Wednesday to swap stories of how well Ssangyong was doing in their home countries and enjoy a chance to test-drive the hot-selling New Korando C SUV on the picturesque island.

Doubt was the last thing on their faces, and understandably so since the Korean carmaker, after years of anemic sales, was finally gaining some momentum, as recent figures show.

After fulfilling its sales goals for the first half of this year and stepping up a notch from being the country‘s smallest carmaker, Ssangyong is now aiming to sell a record 86,300 vehicles in overseas markets this year.

The target reflects an 18.2 percent growth from last year’s 73,017.

Distributors and dealers from over 40 countries cited a successful model change to be the chief reason behind Ssangyong’s recent growth.

“With the Korando C, everybody recognized Ssangyong can develop very good and competitive products. Sales are the moment of truth,” said Ssangyong Motor Russia managing director Alexey Volodin.

Korean automakers are recently enjoying a bigger presence in Russia, with Ssangyong at the fore. During the first six months of this year, the carmaker registered 6.6 percent growth in sales there to outpace its rivals Hyundai and Kia.

In Chile, where Ssangyong had little to no presence and steadily cut prices to stay afloat in competition with its Japanese rivals, it‘s now a brand new game.

“We have well-deserved reputation as being in specialist in off-road vehicles. The Actyon Sport (the Korando Sports pick-up in Korea) lifted Ssangyong’s image and sales dramatically,” said Derek Fox M., the regional chief.

Ssangyong is ranked at 11th of 62 auto brands competing in Chile, with a market share of 2.6 percent. It is now aiming for the top 10.

Yerkeblan Okayev, chairman of supervisory board of Allur Auto in Almaty, Kazakhstan, who has been working with the carmaker since 2004, has a bigger ambition: making Ssangyong a “national brand.”

“In 2007, 300 Ssangyong cars were sold here, but this year we are close to selling 5,000, 17 times higher than that year. Next year, if price discussions go well, maybe 8,000 cars in a year,” he said.

In the country, Ssangyong sees 40 percent of profits from fleet sales. For the Chairman luxury sedan, it is the second-largest market only behind Korea, with the car being offered to ranking government officials.

Ssangyong also expects it could further expand its presence in the market when it starts assembling the face-lifted Actyon, locally called the Nomad, at a plant there from later this year.

“Distributors and dealers have high expectations about future sales. We are ramping up efforts in car production to meet their growing demands,” said Ssangyong Motor CEO Lee Yoo-il.

Ssangyong has set a goal of elevating its car sales from the current 150,000 vehicles per year to 300,000 units by 2016, with its overseas sales making up 70 percent of the total.

(jylee@heraldcorp.com)