Hazik, Chinoy and Martin's questions
hazik said:
does SAIC own over 50% of Ssangyong and do they make Sangyong's in China?
In October of 2004 SAIC outbid China Bluestar for a 48.9% stake in the troubled Ssangyong. SAIC has since increased its stake to 51%. This acquisition brought to a halt Ssangyong's ongoing efforts to enter the Chinese market through companies like Jiangling, Yacheng Auto Group, etc..
SAIC has a subsidiary called Huizhong Auto (SHAC)that makes a small volume of the Ssangyong Istana van in China.
Last year SAIC had a so-called "S" project to produce SUV's on a Ssangyong Kyron platform in China but the Chinese government nixed the project application in March 2006. Presumably it was trying to counter industry overcapacity concerns. But SAIC-Ssangyong have not given up on this plan. It is said they also plan to introduce Ssangyong-based vehicles to the US market.
Martin and Chinoy, as far back as 2000, Xindadi produced a Musso CKD under Ssangyong license. But in light of the SAIC buyout of Ssangyong I don't think that outdated Musso production is still ongoing as it might be a conflict of interest. Xindadi also produced a Motivity SUV that I think was based on a Nanhai Fudi body. Last production figures I have for both models was 861 YTD through August 2005.
btw Ssangyong has a long standing tie-up with Mercedes and so the 3.2L diesel. As you can also see Ssangyong's Chairman mirrors Mercedes.
As our esteemed fellow CCF member Eric Laofan, recently pointed out, Zotye Auto of Zhejiang is now brandishing the Xindadi logo. This can be seen on the Zotye website. So at the Beijing show last fall, I asked a Zotye rep about this. His answer was that Zotye had acquired Xindadi. But I still have my doubts about this because there is no other indication of it anywhere. Maybe someone here can clarify it for us.