Ssangyong Motor emerges from court protection

Ssangyong Motor Co., Korea‘s smallest automaker, emerged from bankruptcy protection Wednesday following the sale of its stake to Indian utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., the company said in a regulatory filing.

Ssangyong, previously owned by China’s Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., has been under court protection since February 2009 when its Chinese parent abandoned it in the face of the then unfolding global financial crisis.

The company said in a different filing that trading of its shares on the Seoul bourse will resume Thursday.

Ssangyong, maker of the Korando sport utility vehicle (SUV) and locally famous luxury sedan Chairman, has seen numerous woes even after it was placed under court protection, including violent occupation of its plants by striking workers that lasted more than three months last year, completely halting all of its production lines.

The company has since been struggling to make a comeback, introducing last month its first new vehicle in nearly five years, the Korando C.

“The company will recover its reputation as a global SUV leader,” Lee Yoo-il, a court-appointed manager of Ssangyong, said earlier.

Ssangyong sold 81,747 vehicles last year, up 132 percent from a year earlier as its exports jumped 276 percent on-year to 49,288 units. (Yonhap News)