Ssangyong Motor expects to return to profitability in 2015, its chief executive said, with financial help from parent Mahindra and Mahindra helping it to update its product line.
Ssangyong, which M&M rescued from bankruptcy in 2011, will receive a $73m capital injection from the Indian company this year as it looks to launch its next-generation X100 sports utility vehicle (SUV) in early 2015.
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“In 2015 we will use our full capacity. That is when we will (have achieved) turnaround,” CEO Yoo Il Lee told Reuters on the sidelines of the Geneva show.
Lee also said the company will return to borrowing from banks next year to fund its expansion.
Ssangyong’s debt was wiped clean by Mahindra after the Indian company bought its controlling stake.
Mahindra and Ssangyong will also expand its dealer-sharing programme – currently in place in Australia – to South American and African countries, Lee said, with a long term target of entering the US.
“We are diversifying our export markets. Russia now is the largest, but depending on one country is a bit insecure,” Lee said.
Mahindra’s capital injection, which Lee says will happen in May or June, will increase the Indian car maker’s holding in Ssangyong to 73%.
