SEOUL, KOREA - After suffering from sluggish sales, Ssangyong Motor is speeding up the pace of its rehabilitation. Although it failed to return to profitability in the first quarter of this year, the company narrowed its deficit by about 50 percent, with its car sales growing by more than 18 percent.
Ssangyong Motor announced on April 26 that it posted sales of 751.6 billion won and an operating loss of 17.4 billion won for the first quarter of this year. Year-on-year, sales grew by 16.7 percent and operating losses narrowed by 43 percent from 30.5 billion won a year ago.
Its car sales also rose sharply. It sold 31,265 cars in the first quarter of this year, up 18.2 percent from 26,441 units a year ago. Domestic sales rose by 37 percent to 13,293, while overseas exports grew by 7.4 percent to 17,972.
Among Korea's five major carmakers, Ssangyong Motor became the only company to achieve growth in both domestic sales and exports. Key factors behind the rapid recovery of Ssangyong Motor include the rising popularity of Korando series.