KGM Musso XLV

SsangYong is enjoying a new lease on life, and the Musso stands to benefit.

The Korean automaker finally appears to have a stable new owner after a lengthy period of receivership and an initial bidder that couldn’t pay up. It achieved a record year for sales in 2022, though its three model lines sit well below most rivals on the charts.

We’ve said before that the SsangYong Musso and the related Rexton SUV deserve to sell better, particularly considering how sharply they’re priced.

Despite SsangYong having been in the Australian market for longer, rival utes from Chinese brands GWM and LDV have overtaken the Musso on the sales charts. It makes sense, then, that SsangYong’s new leadership is looking to rename the brand and try to shed its “painful image”.

But it will take more than a new badge on the grille to get SsangYong on buyers’ radar, considering many punters either don’t know the brand exists or think it’s Chinese – not that the latter is as much of an impediment in 2023, seeing how GWM sales continue to soar.