With its future uncertain, SsangYong is going all-out to prove to potential investors that it has a robust product lineup brewing.
Codenamed KR10, the car sketched out by SsangYong looks to be the spiritual successor to the first and second generation Korando before that name was applied to the company’s small crossover.
The KR10 will be considerably longer and wider than those two cars, though, and has five doors as opposed to three.
With its angular shape, chunky flares, and sliding canvas roof, the KR10 zeroes in on the company’s SUV heritage.
SsangYong says the car’s design is centred around four concepts: “‘Robust Architecture’, ‘Unexpected Delight’, ‘Vibrant Contrast’, and ‘Communion with Nature’.”
It’s unclear what drivetrains KR10 will be available with, but the closed-off nature of the front end hints at an EV variant, at the very least.
Also not known is whether KR10 is related to the Concept J100 all-electric SUV teased last month.
Both cars are being developed under the company’s new “Powered by Toughness” design philosophy.
Whether either of these cars, as well as the J100 pickup, will ever make it into production are an open question.
SsangYong has been in receivership since the end of 2020, and South Korea’s bankruptcy court has given the company until the end of July to find a new owner.
Concept J100
American businessman Duke Hale has been in negotiations to buy SsangYong for around a year.
Hale has recently setup a new firm to pursue his interest in SsangYong after his previous company, HAAH, filed for bankruptcy after abandoning plans to import Chery vehicles to the US.
According to Hale, his firm will need to raise between US$250 and US$350 million ($339 million and $474 million), as well as secure funding South Korean financial institutions, to complete the takeover.
The automaker’s latest troubles began in April 2020, near the beginning of the global Coronavirus pandemic, when owner Mahindra told its Korean subsidiary that it had to “find alternate sources of funding”.
