Renault and Mahindra Reportedly Bidding for Ssangyong

Renault and Mahindra are involved in the competition to buy the financially-challenged South Koreean SUV producer Ssangyong Motor, as Reuters reports.Ssangyong has been in state-lead restructuring since the beginning of last year, after the company has registered losses for a period of two years. The automaker’s acquisition is said to be a deal worth up to $500 million.

A Koreean court initiated the sale process for the company at the beginning of the month, with the bid period being open until mid July, after which the court will choose a buyer.

According to Reuters Sources, the interest for Ssangyong would come from Renault-Nissan, rather than Renault’s Samsung Korean division.

When asked about the future move, Nissan and Ssangyong refused to make any comment. The same attitude was used by Renault (which cited legal reasons for its declining to comment) and Mahindra.

"Mahindra has good reason to be interested in buying Ssangyong as this fairly young auto firm can learn auto manufacturing and marketing procedures from Ssangyong...It can also learn key technologies in carmaking," Kevin Lee, an analyst at Shinhan Investment Corporation in Seoul was quoted as saying by the aforementioned source.

However, the South Korean media thinks that the Renault-Nissan alliance might be the most probable buyer.

Ssangyong is currently performing the final development tests for the C200 SUV, a vehicle which is scheduled to enter production at the beginning of next year. The vehicle is expected to be the smallest model in the Koreean automaker’s range, competing with compact SUVs like the Honda CR-V and the Ford Kouga.