SsangYong changes its name. will adopt the KG Group, after the approval of the shareholders of a movement that was announced on January 4. The new identity does not only have consequences in the name and explains how the automotive industry is evolving.
This name change is reported by The Korea Herald, who explain that the adoption of the initials KG on the front of the vehicles and in its new trade name has been expected for two months. Last September, SsangYong was rescued by KG Group, who took over the company for 950 billion won, about 701 million euros.
In 2020, Mahindra ended up withdraw all investments and in December 2020, the company filed for bankruptcy, with the aim of completely restructuring the company. At this time, Edison Motors tried to take over the company but the workers rejected the purchase and, finally, it ended up being frustrated.
But, last year, KG Group decided to bet heavily on its purchase. The purchase is not accidental. KG Group had previously bought Dongbu Steel, a steelmaker also in significant financial trouble and a supplier to SsangYong. And it also has in its offer, chemical producing companies. With these synergies, it will have its own steel and its own batteries for the new electric KGs, what would have been called “new SsangYong models” before.
As we have changed
From now on, SsangYong is renamed KG Mobility and exemplifies how far the automotive product has changed and what is expected of it. If SsangYong made large vehicles at an affordable price, the KG will be electric cars with a strong commitment to artificial intelligence and software.
The profound change will affect the name, but also the corporate identity of the brand, as explained by The Korean Herald. But these modifications that KG Group will apply in SsangYong are well known in Europe and are beginning to be essential if you want to compete in the future of the automotive market.
As we have told you, in recent years, vehicles have become significantly more expensive as consequence of increasingly restrictive polluting emissions, greater demands on active and passive safety and also the preferences of the public. The bulk of the SsangYong offer, for example, focused on SUVs.
This has meant that simple utilities, without technological pretensions and with which to “get anywhere”, are disappearing. But also that if a firm wants to enter to “drop prices” it only has the trump card of the electric car left to open a real gap. It is the bet of MG4 Electric, another of those firms reborn with Chinese capital.
In fact, Dacia, whose flag is “does the same as any other car but for 7,350 euros”, has had to make an important turn in its brand strategy, with a new, more stylized image and a more careful product that justifies the forced price increase that they have had to impose on their cars.
“We are not low cost, but we are the best choice for money. We are changing the way we present ourselves,” explained Denis Le Vot, CEO of Dacia, to Autocar magazine. We are at a tipping point where selling cheap cars with combustion engines is no longer possible. Dacia is experiencing it, SsangYong is experiencing it, even with a name change.
In Xataka | Dacia Spring, we have tested it: the cheapest electric car on the market convinces and is practical
Foto | SsangYong
