KG Mobility, formerly SsangYong, in JV with Indonesia for ‘national car and bus project’ – CKD Rexton SUV

We’ve just heard about Chery powering a ‘Thailand National EV Brand’ and now is the turn of Indonesia’s ‘National Car and & Bus Project’, and behind this venture is KG Mobility (KGM), formerly known as SsangYong.

KGM has announced that it will pursue a joint development project for a national car and electric buses with Pindad, a state-owned defense company under the Indonesian Ministry of Defense. On May 8, KGM chairman Kwak Jae-sun and Pindad CEO Sigit Santosa signed a heads of agreement for the expansion of Rexton local assembly sales, supply and business in Bandung.

“Through cooperation with Pindad, KGM will support the review of vehicle competitiveness, technology, and engineering for models such as the Rexton. Through this, the company plans to actively cooperate to expand the scale of the Indonesian national car and electric bus local production project led by Pindad to a total of 200,000 units,” the South Korean carmaker said.

This won’t be the first of the Rextons assembled in Indonesia; note the word ‘expansion’. Last year, KGM exported 1,060 Rexton knocked down (KD) units to the ASEAN country and plans to ship another 3,000 units this year.

“Musso Sports and Rexton have already been recognised for their excellence in the global market and have been supplied as official vehicles to countries such as the UK, Bulgaria, and Peru. Indonesia, in particular, is an attractive market with high growth potential as the largest automotive market in Southeast Asia. We will focus all our efforts on expanding sales volume with KGM’s differentiated product competitiveness and marketing strategy,” Kwak said.

KGM has form on this. In March, the company signed an MoU with a state-owned enterprise under the Peruvian Army for expanding the supply of official vehicles to the South American country, plus technical cooperation. This is also not Indonesia’s first stab at a national car – back in the 1990s, they had Timor, which first car was a rebadged first-generation Kia Sephia called the S515 (the bug-eyed Sephia Malaysians are familiar with is the second-gen liftback).

It has been some time since we last heard of SsangYong, so here’s a brief recap. Indian automaker Mahindra saved SsangYong from insolvency with a deal in 2010 but failed to make it healthy, and in 2020, SsangYong filed for bankruptcy. A takeover bid by bus maker Edison Motors fell through. South Korean chemical-to-steel chaebol KG Group saved the carmaker in 2022 and named it KG Mobility.

The Rexton name would be familiar to some Malaysians as it was once a relatively popular SUV here. Today’s Rexton is available with five or seven seats, powered by a 2.2-litre turbodiesel with 202 PS and 441 Nm of torque from 1,600 to 2,600 rpm. The gearbox is an eight-speed automatic, and buyers can choose from 2WD or part-time 4WD. At 4,850 mm long and 1,960 mm wide, the KGM is 20 mm longer than the Proton X90 and is 60 mm wider.

Interestingly, last month KGM signed a deal with Chery to jointly develop mid-to-large SUVs for global markets, including South Korea. Through this partnership, KGM aims to accelerate the development of a mid-to-large SUV that ‘inherits the legacy of the Rexton’. The project, codenamed SE-10, is expected to be completed by 2026. So, the next Rexton will be a reskinned Chery. All roads lead to Wuhu indeed.

GALLERY: KGM Rexton

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