Among much else, SsangYong desperately needs to refresh its lineup and rebuild its brand image.
In India, Mahindra is partnering with Korean car maker SsangYong to build out its EV platform.
FORBES: India Car Co Mahindra Plans To Build Larger Electric Vehicle
Also, Ssangyong has a global network with 53 subsidiaries and 90 branches in 120 countries around the world.
Creditors want to merge Ssangyong Motors, which Daewoo acquired last year, with Daewoo Motor as part of the deal.
By late 1996, a year before the Asian Crisis hit Korea, Ssangyong Motor's debt was 17 times its equity.
Samsung, Daewoo and Ssangyong all went big into auto manufacturing and failed big.
Furthermore, Ssangyong has been talking to several overseas car manufacturers about a strategic alliance, including capital and technical co-operation.
And Ssangyong had to sell so many businesses to stay afloat, it is now a ghost of its original self.
Founded by the father of group chairman Kim Suk Won, Ssangyong was a household name in Korean cement and housing construction.
Ssangyong Motor already assembled four-wheel-drive vehicles, but Kim wanted luxury vehicles too.
Ssangyong Oil Refining, the biggest shareholder in Ssangyong Motor, boasts shareholders' equity of 1.1 trillion won and a capital-reserve ratio of 385%.
For bodies, Elliott, who became chief last year, ships in sections from Korean carmaker SsangYong Motors and bolts them together in southern California.
The Ssangyong group has pursued an all-out effort to improve Ssangyong Motor's financial structure through a capital-stock increase and the disposal of property.
You highlight the current financial difficulty of Ssangyong Motor and give readers an impression that the whole Ssangyong group is in a hopeless situation.
Ssangyong is the sixth-biggest business in South Korea, with total sales of 25 trillion won and 25 domestic subsidiaries at the end of 1996.
Samsung and Ssangyong took on mountains of debt to fund car plants, but the Crisis and the IOUs suffocated the ventures before they could really rev up.
The federation of companies that make up the group include an Australian aerospace company and South Korean automaker Ssangyong Motor Company, which Mahindra acquired last year.
An Aramco consortium bought the chaebol's stake in Ssangyong Oil.
In a much-need spot of car-making consolidation, Daewoo , the fourth-largest chaebol, said it was buying the debt-laden car unit of Ssangyong , another conglomerate, for an undisclosed sum.
Mahindra has its work cut out turning around moneylosing SsangYong, which was languishing under its previous owners, most recently China's state-owned automaker Shanghai Automotive (SAIC, the General Motors partner in China).
Indirectly, through the banks, the government owns some truly big companies, such as Daewoo, Ssangyong and, soon, Hyundai: it has these holdings because the banks swapped the firms' debt for equity.
IR I cannot express strongly enough my disappointment at The Economist's failure to comprehend a country's economy and business environment, as demonstrated by your misleading article on the Ssangyong group (May 17th).
Another plus: SsangYong's network of 1, 000 dealers in over 90 countries substantially extends Mahindra's distribution reach, giving it a bigger presence in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Europe and the wherewithal to expand elsewhere.
"The good thing is, we're not poles apart in brand imagery and there's no overlap between our vehicles, " points out Pawan Goenka, the ex-GM executive who heads Mahindra's auto and farm-equipment business and now chairs SsangYong.
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