SsangYong cars to be renamed KG

SsangYong Motor will be rebranded KG Mobility after the Korean car-maker was plucked from bankruptcy by the KG Group last year.

The name change, confirmed by KG Group chairman Kwak Jea-sun to The Korea Herald, will see all future models carry a new KG badge.

“The name – SsangYong Motor – has a fandom with good memories, but it also has a painful image,” he said.

“From now, all SsangYong cars will come out to the world under the name of KG.

“Even with the name change, SsangYong Motor’s history will not change and [the car-maker] will have the same conditions.”

The name change ends the use of the SsangYong Motor name that has been in use for more than 35 years.

The motivation behind the renaming is to broaden the brand from being a traditional car manufacturer to a provider of electric vehicles and autonomous driving.

Already Korea’s oldest car-maker, SsangYong first began making cars under both the Shinjin Motor and Dong-A Motor brands between 1967 and 1986 before it was rebranded SsangYong Motor in 1986 when the car-maker was bought by the SsangYong Group.

Since then, the car-maker has been owned by the Daewoo Group, creditors, China’s Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation and India’s Mahindra Motor.

The new KG Group has yet to detail the car-maker’s product offensive, electrification rollout and plans to launch the delayed Toyota RAV4-rivalling Torres mid-size SUV.