История корейского автопрома: от Keohwa до SsangYong

South Korean car manufacturer

Keohwa, Ltd. (hangul=주식회사 거화 ) was a South Korean assembler of Jeeps under licence, mainly for export markets. Its predecessor was the Jeep assembly joint venture of Shinjin Motors and American Motor Corporation (AMC), established in 1974. It was spun off as an independent company in 1981, after AMC left the venture and retired the permission to use the Jeep trade mark. In 1983, Jeeps from Keohwa started to be named as "Korando". In 1987, it acquired United Kingdom based specialty car maker Panther Westwinds. This resulted in the Musso, which was sold first by Mercedes Benz and later by SsangYong. SsangYong further benefited from this alliance, long after Daimler Benz stopped selling the Musso, producing a badge engineered version of the Mercedes Benz MB100, the Istana and using Daimler designs in many other models, including the second generation Korando (engine and transmission), the Rexton (transmission), the Chairman H (chassis and transmission) and the Kyron (transmission).

In 1997, Daewoo Motors, now GM Korea, bought a controlling stake from the SsangYong Group, only to sell it off again in 2000, because the conglomerate ran into deep financial troubles. In late 2004, the Chinese automobile manufacturer SAIC took a 51% stake of SsangYong Motor Company. In July – August 2006, workers went on strike for 7 weeks to protest SAIC's plans to lay off 554 employees. The strike cost SsangYong 380 billion Won and negotiations ended with workers accepting a wage freeze. In response to management's plan to cut 2,600 jobs, a third of the workforce, workers at Ssangyong's main factory stopped work and barricaded themselves inside in protest. One elderly worker died from a cerebral hemorrhage within the first 12 days. Strikers threw Molotov cocktails at police while police used electroshock weapons and allegedly dropped corrosive chemicals on the strikers. Company employees and analysts have also blamed SAIC for stealing technology related to hybrid vehicles from the company and failing to live up to its promise of continued investment. SAIC denied allegations of technology theft by the company's employees. However, SAIC was charged by the South Korean prosecutor's office for violating company regulations and the South Korean law when it ordered and carried out the transfer of SsangYong's proprietary technology developed with South Korean government funding over to SAIC researchers. In 2010, Daewoo Motor Sales was dropped by General Motors. The long time dealership partner then signed a deal with the SsangYong Motor Company to supply new vehicles to sell (specifically the Rodius, Chairman W and Chairman H), in return for the injection of ($17.6 million) into the car maker still recovering from bankruptcy. The deal is non exclusive, meaning SsangYong will also sell vehicles through private dealers.

In April 2010, the company released a statement citing interest of three to four local and foreign companies in acquiring SsangYong Motor Company, resulting in shares rising by 15%. The companies were later revealed to be Mahindra & Mahindra, Ruia Group, SM Aluminum, Seoul Investments and French owned Renault Samsung Motors of South Korea. In August 2010, Mahindra & Mahindra Limited was chosen as the preferred bidder for SsangYong. The acquisition was completed in February 2011 and cost Mahindra US$463.6 million. In 2015, SsangYong and KB Capital established a joint venture as the financial affiliate of the former, with the name SY Auto Capital. SsangYong had a 51% stake of the venture and KB Capital a 49%. That year, the company launched the Tivoli, its first car after Mahindra acquisition. Within a year of Tivoli's launch, the company reported its first net profit in 9 years. In 2017, SsangYong sold 106,677 units in domestic sales and 37,008 units in exports, setting a record high in 14 years since 2003, when its annual domestic sales stood at 131,283 units. Out of this, the Tivoli alone contributed over 50,000 units of domestic sales for the company. Mahindra XUV300, which was later launched in 2019 is built on Tivoli's platform, sharing many parts including several metal sheets. Mahindra also worked with its SsangYong subsidiary to introduce high performance electric vehicles in South Korea for mass market sales. Mahindra and SsangYong increased their collaboration on engines and electric cars. On 21 December 2020, SsangYong Motor filed for receivership after Mahindra cut funding to SsangYong due to its outstanding debt. Ssang Yong Motor spokesperson stated that the company owes a total of 315.3 billion won (US$285 million) in overdue debt to financial institutions.

In October 2021, it was reported that SsangYong was set to be acquired by electric bus and truck maker Edison Motors which would lead to SsangYong exiting receivership. Edison Motors planned to introduce SsangYong vehicles into the United States, Mexico, and Canada markets by the mid 2020s. Edison Motors also intended to phase out production and new car sales of fossil fuel powered SsangYong vehicles by 2030, in favor of producing and selling only electric powered vehicles by the latter, if acquired. In January 2022, the South Korean courts "approved" Edison Motors' acquisition plan, although the company would be kept in receivership until the transaction were completed. In March 2022, SsangYong said the Edison Motors takeover was cancelled as the latter failed making acquisition payments for that month. In December 2021, SsangYong signed an agreement with the Chinese BYD Auto to co develop battery systems for its first electric car (called U100) which would be launched in 2023.

In June 2022, the Seoul Bankruptcy Court opted for a consortium (KG Mobility) led by the KG Group as the final bidder to take over SsangYong Motor. The consortium planned to pay 900 billion won ($699.5 million) for SsangYong. In August 2022, South Korea's Free Trade Commission approved KG Group acquisition of a 61% majority stake in SsangYong through the consortium. The acquisition payments were completed later that month. In September 2022, the Seoul Bankruptcy Court agreed to SsangYong's receivership exit plan, including issuing new shares in order to pay the creditors. The KG Group was set to start the process to exit SsangYong's receivership in early October and finish the acquisition process on (or before) 14 October, the SsangYong sale deadline. There also were plans to rename SsangYong. The Court approved the receivership exit on 11 November, finalising the consortium's acquisition. In December 2022, SsangYong's chairman Kwak Jae sun said it planned to remove the "SsangYong" name entirely in March 2023 by modifying the articles of association. The company was set to be renamed as "KG Mobility", adopting a new branding and using KG as its marque, to avoid the negative perception of the present name, bypassing its "painful image".

The company adopted the name KG Mobility in March 2023. As the company was renamed, its financial affiliate, SY Auto Capital, was also renamed as KG Capital. In May 2023, KG Group's KG Inicis acquired the 49% KG Capital stake hold by KB Capital and 6% of KG Mobility's share, leaving the latter with a 45% and KG Inicis with a 55%. In March 2023, KG Mobility launched a bid to acquire receivership bound Edison Motors. In May, it was selected as the preferred bidder. In June, it was reported that SsangYong would be relaunched in Europe under the name KGM, with the cars continuing to wear SsangYong's dragon wing logo on the front. It is thought that the first KGM car in Europe will be a facelifted version of the SsangYong Tivoli, with their range of SUVs being rebranded soon after. In April 2023, KG Mobility launched KG S&C, a vehicle parts and conversion division. In November 2023, it was announced that the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) had rejected the application to register the brand name because it had already been registered in around 30 countries by Cihan Turan. This company is known as a trademark troll. This refers to the registration of brand names without the intention of actually using them, but only in order to exploit the rights and collect the corresponding payments. KG Mobility appealed against this decision and said it would continue to use the KGM name in overseas markets until further notice.

By April 2023, the controlling shareholder of KG Mobility was KG Mobility Holdings, a wholly owned subsidiary of KG ETS (a KG Group affiliate). In August 2023, KG Mobility Holdings was merged into KG ETS, making KG Mobility a direct subsidiary of the latter. KG ETS holds a 58.84% of KG Mobility and it cannot sell its stake to third parties until April 2026.