 |
|
Will Ssangyong survive to see another motor show model start? |
Is the finish nigh for Ssangyong? Information on just-auto this week does tiny to discourage these types of thoughts. It doesn’t aid assurance much when the CEO bails out, captain fleeing a sinking ship arrives to thoughts. “As securing new investment is getting longer than expected, and as the restructuring process is imminent, extra difficulties and struggles are expected to lie in advance,” CEO Yea Byung-tae claimed in a resignation letter cited by Korean media this week. The letter was sent to workforce and executives at the automaker. “Coming up with resolutions with each other with you could be an solution, but as I deeply sense the shock and allow down you would have felt, I feel it is correct to acquire responsibility as the president who took care of administration so significantly,” the letter continued.
Kudos for admitting defeat. Ssangyong has been having difficulties for some a long time. Its income are steam-rollered regular monthly by huge compatriot Hyundai-Kia the other two of the ‘big five’ are GM Korea and Samsung which are also floundering. Ssangyong’s me-also SUVs and pickup trucks do tiny to excite consumer fascination, specifically overseas (a lot less than 1{7e488363c11ee5ef50445c8c4fa770b6e6e4f99e57faea264a05ac52abb3ffe0} of Hyundai’s tally previous thirty day period) and some of its relatively recent makes an attempt at ‘styling’ have just been basic ugly. There has been common industrial action with a sit-in at just one position and harm to the plant. Vast majority (c.70{7e488363c11ee5ef50445c8c4fa770b6e6e4f99e57faea264a05ac52abb3ffe0}) shareholder Mahindra & Mahindra has been striving for a extensive time to ditch its slice with no fascination. Ssangyong eventually filed for personal bankruptcy on 21 December 2020 after it failed to meet up with its personal debt obligations with creditors refusing to reschedule compensation deadlines. A quantity of area producers have refused to source parts mainly because of important overdue payments, triggering the automaker to suspend manufacturing for extensive intervals through the previous quarter. A personal bankruptcy courtroom gave the automaker 3 months for M&M to find a consumer but that deadline is now past due and months of talks with US automobile importer HAAH Automotive Holdings resulted in no dedication to an acquisition by the court’s deadline. Are we about to see another MG Rover or Saab?
It’s apt that with Mercedes-Benz now a mass market brand name, SUVs are much of the purpose why. Apt in that the G, the brand’s very first SUV, was in no way meant to be a luxury automobile. As it turned the G-Class, the 4×4’s identify was leveraged once again and once again, to the position exactly where there is now a massive line of SUVs, every single of which has G as the very first letter of its identify. Our hottest long term model report examines a variety.
Sector revival – Suzuki has signed a new distribution agreement with Malaysia’s Naza Group after an absence of virtually 6 a long time from the place. Naza verified it experienced appointed a subsidiary to acquire demand of Suzuki income and aftersales functions of new generation styles. Suzuki’s preceding Malaysian distributor was DRB-Hicom which also assembled the Swift hatchback at a plant in Pekan in Pahang state. It finished Suzuki income in 2015 underneath a restructuring prepare and the brand’s 29 sellers transformed to Proton Edar outlets.
Distributor musical chairs – Malaysian automobile distributor Bermaz Auto (BAuto) declared it experienced signed an agreement with Kia Corporation to assemble and market its vehicles. The new partnership follows the termination of the Kia income and distribution agreement with Naza Group (see Suzuki previously mentioned) to the finish of previous yr. BAuto claimed it experienced agreed to establish a joint enterprise with the South Korean automaker, named Kia Malaysia, which will assemble vehicles from imported fully knocked down (CKD) kits. BAuto claimed it would acquire a 33.3{7e488363c11ee5ef50445c8c4fa770b6e6e4f99e57faea264a05ac52abb3ffe0} stake in the new company and was expected to add just one of its assembly vegetation though Kia would individual the remaining sixty six.7{7e488363c11ee5ef50445c8c4fa770b6e6e4f99e57faea264a05ac52abb3ffe0} of the fairness and spend in the manufacturing infrastructure.
Motor reveals, keep in mind them? China is staging just one shortly. The hottest additions to just-auto‘s list of international launches for 2021’s biggest motor show – Auto Shanghai – are two Hondas, despite the fact that the company was still to announce specifics of both model. Meanwhile, Basic Motors verified the Cadillac Lyriq would make its community debut.
Basic Motors, Ford and Hyundai have made more manufacturing cuts and closed extra assembly vegetation mainly because of the international semiconductor lack plaguing automakers. Hyundai Motor claimed on Friday that it will suspend manufacturing for two times, starting off on Monday, at its Asan, South Korea plant. “We are intently monitoring the scenario to acquire prompt and needed actions to optimise manufacturing in line with the source situations,” Hyundai claimed in a statement. On Thursday Basic Motors claimed it was quickly halting output at several North American vegetation and extending other shutdowns in Kansas and Canada due to a lack of chip source. Ford claimed this week it was cancelling manufacturing at assembly vegetation in Chicago, Michigan with a partial closure of its Kansas facility. It would also lower output in Ohio. The source crunch continues to furrow both OEM and supplier source chain administration brows. We have wrapped our ongoing coverage below.
After all that, have a awesome weekend.
Graeme Roberts, Deputy Editor, just-auto.com