Indian-owned South Korean SUV maker Ssangyong Motor signed a licensing agreement with a Saudi Arabian company at the weekend to locally assemble its vehicles in the country from 2020, according to reports in South Korea.
Ssangyong, owned by Mahindra & Mahindra, agreed to license CKD assembly to Saudi National Automobile Manufacturing Company (SNAM), allow it to ‘localise’ key components and provide training and other technical support.
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SNAM, a state-owned group affiliated with the Safari Group, is tasked with developing an automotive industry as part of the kingdom’s long-term national development programme.
The company plans to build an assembly plant with a production capacity of 25,000 units per year, as well as parts manufacturing facilities, in the Saudi city of Jubail.
The Saudi vehicle market is estimated at over 1m units annually, based mainly on imports from Japan, South Korea, Europe and North America. SNAM aims initially to build a Ssangyong pickup truck at the new facility with other models set to follow if the first stage is successful.
