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Ssangyong UK has dismissed rumours that the IM Group could snatch UK importing rights for Ssangyong 4x4s and potentially Roewe cars in the future, despite weak sales this year.
Roewe: coming soon?
SYUK’s registrations dropped a whopping 46 per cent year-on-year in April and were 12.7 per cent down year-to-date at 784 (versus 684 for Jan-April 2006).
SYUK’s managing director Ken Forbes put the differing tallies down to a sales uplift in 2006 from the launch of the Kyron and a proportion of awareness-raising fleet sales to 4×4 daily rental specialists in the first quarter of last year that was not repeated in 2007.
We’re categorically not for sale and making investments to get more dealers on board
Forbes told Motor Trader he was not worried about the IM Group’s reported interest: “ We’re categorically not for sale and making investments to get more dealers on board. We’ll let the numbers do the talking. We’re actually 50 per cent up year-on-year in retail.”
IM Group did concede that it was talking to the parent company of both Ssangyong and Roewe – Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corporation – but only as part of discussions with a host of Chinese players.
An IM spokesman said: “We’re talking to every major Chinese car manufacturer at the moment.”
Indeed, one industry insider close to IM suggested that Chinese brands like Chery and Geely might be higher up the importer’s current wish list than Roewe.