Mahindra's international date with SsangYong - March 2011 (Expected)
SsangYong Motor Company is the fourth largest South Korean automobile manufacturer. It has a very big history of Acquisition and Partnership. It was a part of SsangYong Group, a multibillion dollar conglomerate. The group was broken apart because of the problems during the South East Asian crisis of 1997. Mahindra & Mahindra Limited (M&M) a part of Mahindra Group based in Mumbai. It has recorded revenue of $6.93 billion with net income of US$ 623.11million.
M&M has been selected as the preferred bidder and is expected to gain a controlling stake in the company by March 2011. The planned acquisition, which has been approved by South Korea's Free Trade Commission, will cost M&M US $463million. M&M aims to utilize the technological strength of SsangYong.
Setting aside these overly ambitious claims, it's easy to see that this concept looks a lot better than the Actyon Sports. Gone are the boat-like nose and the "crying” headlights, giving way to a far better-looking front that sports an imposing honeycomb grille and modern detailed headlamps.
However, the rest of the car is not very different: the profile remains the same, with only the roof and load-area rails being new, while at the back the only obvious changes are the higher placed reshaped taillights and the slightly redesigned rear door. It looks more like a facelift than a pre-production concept study.
