KG Group Chair Kwak, new SsangYong CEO, meets SNAM CEO for KD supply

[Photo by Yonhap]

KG Group Chairman Kwak Jae-sun will spearhead the business normalization of SsangYong Motor Co. as its new chief.

Kwak has been officially appointed to co-CEO of SsangYong with the court-appointed manager Jung Yong-won, the carmaker announced on Thursday.

As the new heads, Kwak and Jung met with Saudi Arabian partner Saudi National Automobiles Manufacturing Co. (SNAM) President and CEO Fahd S. Al-Dohish in Seoul to monitor the progress in cooperation on SsangYong knock-down kit supply.

SNAM discussed ways of constructing the knock-down assembly line in Saudi Arabia, ordering facilities and localizing components with SsangYong Motor’s parts supplier as well.

SsangYong Motor signed a knock-down kit supply deal with SNAM for Rexton Sport & Khan in July 2019 and for Rexton in October 2020. In January this year, they signed a contract to supply components to Saudi Arabia.

Under the contracts, SNAM secured a site for finished vehicle production in Jubail, Saudi Arabia and broke ground in January. It plans to start first-stage assembly from 2023 to further expand the annual output to 30,000 units.

“Having a local assembly line in Saudi Arabia will help SsangYong make a breakthrough for expanded exports. As a KG Group family unit, the company will make efforts to diversify the export market and increase vehicles sales in the global market,” said an official from SsangYong Motor.

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