Deliberately extreme styling will ensure future SsangYong vehicles get noticed in the market, said the company’s design advisor Ken Greenley.
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Promoting the UK launch of the new Rodius in London last month, Greenley said the large minivan would not appeal to every buyer. “If you produce a car that polarises opinion, then the people who like it are more likely to buy it,” he told Automotive News Europe.
The Rodius has deliberately exaggerated headlamps, grille, taillights and mirrors to help disguise its size, said Greenley. At 5125mm long, the Rodius is the biggest large minivan in the segment – even bigger than the 5095mm-long Chrysler Grand Voyager.
Future SsangYong models will continue the provocative design theme, though perhaps not in as extreme a manner as the “love it or hate it” personality of the Rodius, Greenley said.
Over the next 18 months SsangYong, Korea’s fourth-largest carmaker, will launch a determined assault on export markets with four new model ranges.
The company started sales of the Kyron medium SUV in Korea this month. The car replaces the current Musso. The Kyron is due in Europe in February.
The company also will start building a small SUV, code-named XCT, in October; plans a five-seat pickup and may make a premium SUV to compete with Toyota’s Land Cruiser.
From January to the end of April, SsangYong’s exports to western Europe rose 167% to 11,967 units compared with the same period last year.
