KG Mobility

History

KG Mobility traces its roots to the Ha Dong-Hwan Motor Workshop established in Seoul in 1954, initially building trucks, buses, and special-purpose vehicles including Jeeps for the United States Army. The company merged with Dongbang Motor in 1963 and was acquired by the SsangYong Group in 1986, becoming SsangYong Motor Company in 1988.

SsangYong established a technology partnership with Mercedes-Benz that brought German chassis and transmission technology to the Chairman H luxury sedan and the Rexton SUV. The company launched the Musso in 1993, its first true SsangYong-branded SUV. Over the following decades SsangYong changed hands multiple times, passing through Daewoo Motors, China's SAIC Motor (2004-2009), and India's Mahindra (2011-2020). The COVID-19 pandemic pushed the company into receivership in December 2020.

A consortium led by KG Group acquired 61 percent of the company in August 2022, and SsangYong exited receivership in November 2022. The company was renamed KG Mobility in March 2023. The Torres SUV launched in 2022 was followed by the Torres EVX in 2023, the company's first fully electric model under the KG Mobility name.

Innovations

SsangYong was Korea's first dedicated SUV manufacturer, pioneering body-on-frame SUVs for the Korean market decades before the segment became globally popular. The technology partnership with Mercedes-Benz gave SsangYong access to world-class powertrain and chassis technology.

The Torres EVX represents KG Mobility's pivot to electrification, designed with a dedicated electric architecture rather than adapting an existing ICE platform. The company's survival through four different ownership groups and a receivership demonstrates the resilience of its engineering team and SUV product DNA.