Mahindra reveals new leadership, plans for Ssangyong Motor

SEOUL, March 15 (Yonhap) -- Ssangyong Motor Co., South Korea's smallest automaker recently acquired by India's top utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., will invest over 240 billion won (US$212 million) this year alone to develop new products and improve its image, the new leadership of Ssangyong Motor said Tuesday. The announcement came one day after a Seoul district court approved Mahindra & Mahindra's acquisition of the South Korean automaker, also ending Ssangyong's court receivership that began over two years ago. "Today, we are happy to announce the M&A is complete and Ssangyong is out of court receivership," Pawan Goenka, president of Mahindra Group's automotive and farm equipment sector and also new director of Ssangyong, said in a press conference in Seoul. Anan Mahindra, vice chairman of Mahindra Group, said both Mahindra and Ssangyong will benefit from the merger. "We bring (to Ssangyong) financial stability and investment, as well as a futuristic focus with our offerings in alternative fuels and electric vehicles," he said in a recorded message from India. "Ssangyong brings us the key to global markets with its strong technology base, its complementary product portfolio and its strong and global dealer network." The company named Lee Yoo-il, a court-appointed manager of Ssangyong under court receivership, as Ssangyong's new president and CEO. Ssangyong's new board of directors will consist of six members, including Lee, Goenka and Bharat Doshi, executive director and CFO of Mahindra Group. The board will hold its first meeting Wednesday, and is expected to approve new business plans for Ssangyong, as well as a list of new leaders for the company from both Ssangyong and Mahindra, Goenka said. New plans for the company include an investment of over 200 billion won ($177 million) this year alone for the development of new Ssangyong vehicles, including a new car to be launched in 2013. The company will invest an additional 40 billion won ($35.5 million) to improve its brand image, which Goenka said "has somewhat eroded over the years." Ssangyong was placed under court protection in February 2009, shortly after its former Chinese parent, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., abandoned it in the face of the global financial crisis that was unfolding at the time. Goenka noted the company still had some ways to go before it is fully normalized, but said they were "surely inching closer to building a profitable organization." Even under court receivership, Ssangyong enjoyed a 132 percent sales increase in 2010 with its exports jumping 276 percent from a year earlier to 49,288 units. Lee, the new chairman of Ssangyong, said his company will seek to sell over 100,000 cars globally this year, up over 22 percent from 81,747 units sold last year.