This file photo taken April 15, 2021, shows the gate of a plant of SsangYong Motor Co. in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — SsangYong Motor Co., the South Korean unit of Indian carmaker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., said Thursday it has signed a parts supply deal with a Saudi Arabian carmaker.
Under the seven-year deal, SsangYong Motor will initially provide semi knockdown units to Saudi National Automobiles Manufacturing Co. (SNAM) and then complete knockdown units for SNAM to assemble into SsangYong’s three models, the company said in a statement.
The three models to be assembled by SNAM are the new Rexton Sport, new Rexton Sports Khan and all-new Rexton SUVs.
SNAM will build Saudi Arabia’s first car manufacturing plant this year and next year and begin to assemble the three SUV models under an original equipment manufacturer agreement with SsangYong, a company spokesman said.
For the next seven years, SNAM plans to produce a total of 169,000 units of the three models and in the long term, it will consider producing its own vehicles for exports in the Middle East, the spokesperson said.
For the whole of 2021, SsangYong’s net losses narrowed to 292.9 billion won (US$244 million) in 2021 from 504.34 billion won a year earlier on companywide drastic cost-cutting efforts.
Its vehicle sales fell 22 percent to 84,106 units last year from 107,324 a year ago amid the COVID-19 pandemic and chip shortages.
SsangYong’s lineup consists of the Tivoli, Korando, Rexton and Rexton Sports SUVs.
(Yonhap)
