Ssangyong's new baby still due by Christmas

Ssangyong importer Ateco Automotive is closer to signing off on its entrant in the thriving small SUV class, the Ssangyong Tivoli, although negotiations with Korea over price and specification remain incomplete.

As we reported earlier this year, the importer had hoped to have the Tivoli here by September, but at the time it said the Tivoli was “not absolutely certain for Australia yet".

Ateco spokesman Daniel Cotterill yesterday spoke in more positive terms about Tivoli, confirming it was firming up as an entrant in the Australian market, but he admitted: It might not be as soon as the third quarter. The deal’s not done yet. It’s a work in progress.”

Ateco is a step closer to importing the all-new city-SUV, however, and has a silver Tivoli homologation vehicle in Australia (with the rear badge letters changed to read ‘Lovi’, to disguise its provenance) undergoing the Single Uniform Type Inspection (SUTI) process, which is an expensive exercise for manufacturers and importers to gain federal design rule compliance certification.

Cotterill said that given Ateco is not yet ready to order cars, as negotiations continue with Korea on price and spec, the on-sale date fill be pushed back to the fourth quarter.

“It [arrival of cars] is two months from when we sign up for it and we’re not signed up for it as of today. As good a car as we think it is, we need to get the package and the price right, and we haven’t got that yet.”

While Cotterill would not be drawn on what Ateco proposed to sell Tivoli for, he did say: “It’s the most competitive segment in the market in the moment. When you’re up against such tough competition you’ve got to have the right selection of packages and you’ve got to have the right price.”

With Ssangyong's own Korando now selling from just $21,990 drive-away in entry-level 2WD S manual form and Mazda recently launching its all-new CX-3 from a sharp $19,990, the Tivoli would need to be attractively specified and priced – likely from under $20,000 – to have any chance of success.

The Tivoli was previewed at last year’s Paris motor show as the XIV-Air and XIV-Adventure concepts. It was christened after the Italian town near Rome soon after and the production model went on sale in Korea in January.

Ssangyong claims the Tivoli is its most thoroughly-developed car to date, costing $320 million and taking 42 months to develop.

Powered by a naturally-aspirated 91kW/157Nm 1.6-litre petrol engine matched with six-speed manual and conventional automatic transmissions, it is available in both front- and all-wheel drive configurations in overseas markets.

Measuring 4195mm long and 1795mm wide, the five-seat Tivoli wagon offers 423 litres of cargo capacity.