Ssangyong preparing to lay off nearly 40% of workforce by end of June?
Ssangyong Motor Company is still struggling to gain traction after it ceased production late last year and slipped into receivership earlier this year. It restarted its production lines in February, but even the company director, Lee Yu-Il, says volume is still far too slow. To deal with matters, Gasgoo reports that Ssangyong is letting go of 2,700 workers, representing 37% of its workforce.
Yu-Il said the struggling Korean firm will run out of money at the end of June, and will need 100 billion won ($75 million US) if the company is broken up -- which makes us wonder how much the company needs to stay in business and question who would supply such funds in the face of a 50% drop in sales. With majority stakeholder SAIC refusing to get involved, Ssangyong's future is looking decidedly bleak.
[Source: Gasgoo]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
MachinaDC5 2:16PM (4/24/2009)
I wonder if Ssangyong is blaming unions.
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hypermiler 3:29PM (4/24/2009)
No, Ssangyong is blaming China's SAIC which was too busy looting Ssangyong tech to actually run it.
tuliomeng 8:13PM (4/24/2009)
hypermiler
If you were SAIC, will you spent billions of dollars just to take away the "valuable" korean technology by killing Ssangyong? What a stupid deal to begin with. SAIC doesn't even bother to show anything about Ssangyong in the current Shanghai Auto Show. It seems this time SAIC is really going to sit aside and watch Ssangyong die.
revaholic 2:18PM (4/24/2009)
I have no sympathy for Ssangyong at all. They have never made an attractive vehicle.
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Khalid 2:56PM (4/24/2009)
The RX320 is a great SUV, Mercedes sourced engine and transmission, 4wd (it actually goes offroad), under $25k fully loaded, 8 seats, leather upscale interior. In 2007, the facelift addressed some of the ride and road noise issues. Fuel economy isn't that good, but at that price point you cant really complain.
John 2:21PM (4/24/2009)
Maybe they could save some money by laying off the extra 'S' in their name.
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efw 3:31PM (4/24/2009)
lamest comment of the day.
TKE 3:05PM (4/24/2009)
Just lay off the people who did the Rodius. Keep the people who did the Rexton. If the same people did both... medicate for stability? (http://goodcarbadcar.blogspot.com/search/label/SsangYong)
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Monte 3:19PM (4/24/2009)
We have an provincial view in some respects. We think our auto makers problems are due exclusively to poor management. The truth isi every automaker worldwide is hurting. Making autosa is a high fixed-cost type of manufacturing. When demand drops 50% there isi little to cover the enormaous fixed costs.
So everybody is hurting and dying. Even mighty Toyota is on the dole now. Nissaan is back to its near death rattlessd of a few years ago, when Renault invested to prop them up.
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hypermiler 3:32PM (4/24/2009)
Anyhow, Ssangyong's a goner under the Korean government restructuring plan, which calls for liquidation of Ssangyong and sales of GM Daewoo to a Korean capital along with Ssangyong assets to create a second world-class automaker.
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jsjs 4:39PM (4/24/2009)
While SAIC used and abused Ssangyong, Ssanyong certainly had its issues from the start.
I doubt many people will weep if Ssangyong disappears.
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abcd 6:29PM (4/24/2009)
jsjs:
"I doubt many people will weep if Ssangyong disappears."
jsjs,
This time you're more realistic. I agree with you.
Rar 12:59PM (4/25/2009)
@abcd
"I doubt many people will weep if Japanese automakers disappears."
the vegas style guy 6:37PM (4/24/2009)
Does anyone REALLY care?
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carlbolt 7:10PM (4/24/2009)
Nobody blames Ssangyong rips off Mercedes? What a double standard here!
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esj2 10:17AM (4/25/2009)
in 1991, ssangyong entered into a technology partnership with daimler-benz. this partnership lasted for many years.
Rar 12:58PM (4/25/2009)
In Carmaker’s Collapse, a Microcosm of South Korea’s Woes
NYTimes
“BOE got the technology they wanted. All we got was layoffs,” said Hwang Pil-sang, a Hydis worker."
“We trusted their promise to help us into the vast Chinese market,” Mr. Yang said. “In the end, they kept none of their promises, and they got what they wanted: our technology.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/world/asia/24seoul.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&ref=asia
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Rev Junkie 4:01PM (4/25/2009)
I'm surprised that they sell cars at all. The Sssssssssssssssangyong factory is like a giant anus. Nothing but turds come out of there. I bet the most popular dealer accessory is a paper bag with eyeholes, so nobody knows you are driving the most consistently ugly cars on the planet. I thought the Koreans moved past ugly, poorly built, unreliable crap.
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