Indian conglomerate Mahindra & Mahindra have announced their interest in taking over the now bankrupt Korean car maker Ssangyong. But that’s not all, they are facing competition from their Indian market partners Renault in the bid.
M&M and Renault have history together as they used to be partners in the production of the Logan series cars in India. Nissan came in later on in a threeway deal. But in 2008, Mahindra exited the venture and bought up Renault’s stake in Logan JV. Due to problems within the two companies sales of Logan suffered dramatically.
Other bidders in the mix include Ruia Group, the owners of Dunlop India, Korean aluminium producer SM Group, private equity fund Seoul Investment and a company that makes Daewoo buses. The Ruia Group as confident about their chances, as they feel that they have the expertise in turning ‘sick’ companies around. They have identified value in the business thus have put in a bid for the same.
Estimates from the South Korean media have stated that the bids put in place were somewhere in between $300 to $500 million. Clearly both Renault and Mahindra see some ‘value’ (as the Ruia Group put it) in Ssangyong. Mahindra that dominates the Indian SUV market, is planning to launch its own brand in the US, thus modern (some Mercedes-Benz derived) SUV technology such that used in the Rexton and Kyron would come in handy.
Mahindra is currently filling up it’s portfolio with a variety of buyouts which include the recent purchase of REVA electric. REVA previously had dealings with GM in the production of an electric car, but pulled out close to the time Mahindra announced its buyout of the EV producing company.
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The name SsangYong sounds too chinese and Mahindra sounds too Indian. Maybe this is why the cant sell well. Other races may not like the name so they wont buy. Name like Proton Hyundai is better than Ssangyong or Mahindra.This is just me and majority of my friends opinion.What do you think? Change of name could improves sales?
I somehow feel you have a point there.
Let me read it again….
Hmmmm….
;-)
Mahindra sells tractors here in the US under Mahindra brand name at Tomball, TX which is about hour noth of Houston TX.
http://www.mahindrausa.com/
They infact sponsor a car in Nascar and nothing can be more American as Nascar.
So the name Mahindra should not really matter.
I too feel the same about the name. For Tractor maybe is different but for car , it does’nt really sound nice to tell your friends.Is just my opinion
Hope Renault or Mahindra would be not the next victim of Korean internal political struggle like SAIC.
When you say victim of “Korean internal political stuggle” could you elaborate as SAIC doesn’t have a reputation for having a long term view overseas either, as in the Rover Group, where it basically disassembled an entire assembly line for the Rover 75 and brought it back to china?
Korea should not let their companies be taken over by foreign buyers with insincere attempts with regards to their ownership. Renault already has a partnership with Samsung through Nissan and i suspect Mahindra would drain the company in the same way SAIC did. They can make it on their own with their own domestic investors. The Korean motor vehicle industry is very intense, with a strong focus on R & D and If I were the policy makers i would not allow foreign ownership of this company.
you’d better not think highly of Ssangyong’s R&D, otherwise it would own its self developed technology of engine and gearbox much earlier than facts. Till today, Ssangyong has to produce diesel engines under this license of Benz and import the gearbox from Austrila based DSI, which was purchased by Geely last year.
Although it is the weakest link, SSangyong should stay a domestic, Korean owned company. I think that Hyundai – Kia should try to aquire Ssanyong but perhaps it is too far and too late into debt. I still believe that Korean car companies are a national asset not only due to a nationalistic desire, but firms such as Hyundai – Kia have proven their ability in the international scene. For example, Hyundai – Kia is globally competitive and I believe it will begin to outsell Toyota in key overseas markets soon. The Hyundai Genesis recently the North American Car ot the year award.
GM – Daewoo was an unfortunate fire sale during the 1998 crisis. From the Hyundai experience, I can say that given the right leadership, Ssangyong could come back on top.
Hm… I thought there was a Chinese partner with SsangYong before this bankrupt ?
Ssangyong has a lot of Mercedes tech.
i said let Mahindra win this..India is on the rise n this might brought prospered to Sy as well
Already bankrupt., what happens to SAIC??
its a lame that Ssangyong already bankrupt.. although it’s have many problem, i’m still amuse with their car like the rexton. The Rexton sell quite good in malaysia but their car sell emmmm…. what can i say… very very very small volume. in the Korea, there lots of their cool car like the cm5 if i’m not mistaken. i hope this brand dont become like the american car maker( Pontiac, Chrysler, Hummer, Buick).
i think if proton could buy a stake in this company it will be great…as a owner of lotus proton gains a good deal with it’s technology………if ssangyong , than proton can even go further…and how about volkswagen which buys everything on automotive…are they interested…….think……….
Ssangyong is also an example of how intense the Korean car market is. I suspect that Ssangyong could dominate a niche of the Korean car market as Hyundai did not produce viable luxury vehicles until recently. Their early attempts with the 1st few generations of Equus (do a websearch, this car was not exported in large quantities), and some highly specified versions of the Sonata (mostly for domestic market consumption) Ssangyong had this end of the market all to itself. Yes, the R&D in Ssangyong is lacking, but Korean R&D is very advanced and if it is behind the Japanese all I can say is that it is closer than most people think it is.
WOW, nice to Know , Last year Tata moter buy Land Rover and Jaguar brand and Now Mahindra going to buy this Korian company, this is Good for Asia