M&M to launch Ssangyong's Kornado and Rexton SUVs in India

Mahindra & Mahindra, India announced on Friday (3rd December) that the Indian auto major plans to launch two new SUVs, Kornado and Rexton. The power SUVs will be launched from the Korean Ssangyong Motor Company Limited (SYMC) range of vehicles which by next year will be owned by Mahindra India.

Pawan Goenka, President, Automotive & Farm Equipment Sectors, Mahindra India, said that, the company wishes to launch two new SUVs in the domestic auto market from Mahindra's to-be Ssangyong Motor Company Limited. Kornado and Rexton are the Sports vehicle which will be introduced in the domestic market selected from the Ssangyong portfolio of vehicles.

Mahindra India, few days backs declared that, it has stamped on a definitive deal to take over 70 per cent share in the Korean SUV makers. Indian automobile biggie paid USD 463 million (about Rs 2105 crore) for the same.

Pawan Goenka continued and said that, the company is waiting for the creditors approval over the agreement. As per the deal, some amount will be paid by the end of January and the money will be utilized to pay Ssangyong creditors.

He later added that, the company is in its final stage of taking over the company. But still the acquisition will take two months. Mahindra is confident that by March, the deal will get over.

Ssangyong Motors, the Korean automobile manufacturer is known for its technology which is affixed in its range of vehicle starting from recreational cars to SUVs.

SsangYong Motors were coming with revised version of the Kornado, fourth generation which is coded as C 200, the first SUV to be introduced in the last quarter of 2010. The new car Kornado, will be bit trimmed compared to its rivals such as Kia Sportage and Hyundai ix. The SUV Rexton, is on the same platform as Mercedes-Benz M-Class, which was introduced in SsangYong Motors in 2001. Whenever Mahindra brings the new SUVs, these will be pitched against Chevrolet Captiva, Nissan X-Trail, Toyota Fortuner, Ford Endeavour, Honda CR-V and the recently launched Skoda Yeti.

After the completion of the deal, Mahindra plans to expand its horizons and will focus on the US auto market. Mahindra recently acquired 55.2 per cent stake in the electric car maker REVA and as per the expansion strategy, it expects to sell the electric car in the US auto market. The US government is encouraging the use of plug-ins and has also sanctioned an incentive of USD 7,500 for the use of non-emission cars.

REVA currently is sold only in London and Bangalore and since the launch in 2001 of its first electric car REVA, as many as 3,700 cars have rolled out. Reva and Mahindra are working together and developing new technologies for the exciting Mahindra car models. Currently, Mahindra has four successful SUVs established in the Indian auto market. These are Mahindra Bolero, Mahindra Scorpio, Mahindra Scorpio W and Mahindra Xylo, all of which are quite popular in its segment.

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