The first electric ute from a South Korean manufacturer is on the cards for SsangYong, which is working on three new models after it was rescued from two years in financial turmoil.
South Korean car maker SsangYong – recently brought under the wing of a new owner, after close to two years on life support – has outlined plans for a wave of new models to boost its global sales.
As reported, SsangYong’s new owner is South Korean chemical and steel company KG Group, which last week repaid a $AU340 million debt to the car maker’s creditors – nearly two years after it first entered bankruptcy protection before Christmas 2020.
With a new owner injecting funding, SsangYong is reportedly developing three new models for launch by the end of 2024 – two of which are electric, including what is said to be a South Korean brand’s first electric ute.
According to a July report from The Korea Herald, an outline of the three models – an electric SUV next year, a second, possibly petrol-powered SUV in 2024, and the electric ute in 2024 – was given to South Korean media by co-CEO of SsangYong, Chung Yong-won.
“In the second half of next year, we will launch a mid-size electric SUV which will be an innovative model that will outpace other models in the same category,” Chung Yong-won said.
“In mid-2024, we will launch a product under the code name ‘KR10,’ which is a reinterpretation of our traditional Korando model, and in the second half of 2024, we will launch an electric pickup truck, which no other domestic carmaker has attempted.”
Next year’s electric SUV has been referred to by the company publicly under the ‘U100’ codename, and has been confirmed by SsangYong’s UK division to be an electric version of the new Torres mid-size SUV.
In January, SsangYong signed a deal with Chinese electric-car giant BYD to supply its ‘Blade’ battery packs for the electric Torres – an agreement which at the time was reported to expand to joint development of future battery packs and vehicle architectures.
The electric Torres is due in European showrooms in late 2023 – around the same time the petrol version is expected to arrive in Australia. The electric variant has not been confirmed for an Australian launch.
SsangYong’s first electric vehicle was the smaller Korando e-Motion SUV – but it is also yet to be confirmed for Australia.
Next in SsangYong’s expansion is said to be a new SUV known as the ‘KR10’ in 2024, which was previewed in a sketch in July 2021 – before leaked photos surfaced in July 2022, with retro design cues inspired by the 1990s SsangYong Korando SUV.
It’s unclear if the KR10 – its production name yet to be confirmed – will use petrol or electric power.
But likely to be of most interest to many in Australia is a new electric ute, due in the second half of 2024 – and said to be the first of its kind from a South Korean car brand.
Few details of the new ute have been confirmed, and it is unclear if it would use a body-on-frame architecture similar to today’s diesel-engined Musso, or a ‘monocoque’ platform shared with the Torres (codenamed J100 during development).
It’s possible it may be based on the next-generation Musso, which may launch at a similar time – if the six-year model cycles for the last two generations of SsangYong utes are a guide, given the current Musso launched in 2018.
Plans for the electric ute were first confirmed in 2021, in a statement released as part of a financial announcement: “Now starting with [the] Korando e-Motion [electric mid-size SUV], the company plans to expand its green car range with a mid-sized EV and EV pick-up.”
Reports surfaced in March the company was working on an electric version of the current Musso for launch as soon as 2023, fast-tracked for showrooms by its then-planned new owner, South Korean electric bus company Edison Motors.
However, it is unclear if this project is still ongoing, after Edison Motors failed to meet deadlines for payments, and the deal collapsed.
If the late-2024 launch timeline for SsangYong’s electric ute holds, it may be the first battery-powered pick-up from a South Korean manufacturer – as Kia is planning two new electric utes, but they are not due until 2026.
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