Yahoo Autos SsangYong Will Change its Name in Hopes of a Less 'Painful' Existence
Though it may not be a known quantity on our shores, SsangYong is a company with a long history. It was established a decade after Kia, as South Korea’s second-oldest carmaker, well before Hyundai hit the scene. And yet it’s been shoved off from one unwilling parent to the next, seemingly always on the brink of collapse, its SUVs and trucks forever an option but rarely recommended. SsangYong’s new owner wants to shed those troubles once and for all, and he’s hoping that ditching the name will help the cause.
Jae-Sun Kwak, the chairman of SsangYong and its new parent company KG Group, revealed the plan just before the new year, which may explain why we’re only hearing about it now. Well, that and the fact it’s news that involves SsangYong, a company you may know best for making this thing you likely saw last on an episode of Top Gear from 14 years ago. Anyway, Kwak did not mince words. Per the Korea Herald:
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“The name — SsangYong Motor — has a fandom with good memories, but it also has a painful image,” Kwak said at an event held by the Korea Automobile Journalists Association at Four Seasons Hotel Seoul.
“From now, all SsangYong cars will come out to the world under the name of KG [Mobility]. Even with the name change, SsangYong Motor’s history will not change and (the carmaker) will have the same conditions,” he added.
Car brands changing names or adapting different ones used in other markets is nothing new of course, but this might be the first occasion in my three-ish decades on this planet that I’ve seen a manufacturer adopt a new moniker out of shame.
