Tivoli sales reach 25 pct of annual target in one month

Ssangyong Motor Co.'s Tivoli sport utility vehicle, just launched last month, easily surpassed initial expectations as its sales reached nearly one fourth of the sales goal for the entire year, industry data showed Sunday.

A total of 9,500 units of the SUV by South Korea's smallest carmaker were sold as of Tuesday since its Jan. 13 introduction, according to industry data.

The figure marks 24.7 percent of Ssangyong Motor's original yearly sales target of 38,500 units for the car, which is the first new model that the company has rolled out since it was purchased by India's Mahindra & Mahindra Group in 2011.

Although the surging sales, buoyed by the current popularity of SUVs in the country, may be good news for Ssangyong Motor, the carmaker is left with the issue of trying to keep up production with fast growing demand.

The automaker has said it does not have the means to drastically expand production at the moment, and currently, consumers have to wait up to two months to have their purchased vehicle delivered.

Earlier this year, the Indian auto conglomerate's chairman had said he may consider re-hiring workers that were laid off in 2009 should the new SUV model succeed in the local market and if Ssangyong Motor's business bounces back to the black.

Company officials here, however, have been cautious, emphasizing that such decision is "not an easy one to make."

"We will monitor Tivoli sales for March and try our best to push up production to meet demand by adjusting the production ratio of different models manufactured in the Pyeongtaek plant," a Ssangyong Motor official said, referring to the company's factory located some 70 kilometers south of Seoul.

"If sales slow down later on after hiring more people, we won't be able to just pull those workers out of the workforce," the official said, adding that additional recruitment is out of the question for the time being. (Yonhap)