Mahindra & Mahindra's Ssangyong is looking to enter the U.S. market, with a planned rival to the Jeep Wrangler leading the charge.
The Wrangler fighter would be based upon the recently introduced Tivoli compact crossover while styling would be greatly influenced by the Ssangyong Korando, a vehicle whose life began as a licensed Jeep CJ-7 clone, Autocar reports. Power for the proposed model would also come from the Tivoli, which includes 1.6-liter gasoline and diesel engines, as well as an EV variant.
Ssangyong's first entry into the U.S. market follows years of avoiding said market due to the huge investment it would have needed to make in order to build models aimed at attracting American consumers, per one company source:
The company has never cracked North America because it requires a huge investment, and because the distributor model that we use in other territories wouldn't really work in the USA. But a Wrangler-style high-design 4×4 could create the waves we'd need in order to make a mark over there. At the same time, it'd work really well for us in the UK and Europe at a time when building profile is absolutely key.
The Tivoli-based model would follow the long-wheelbase version of the Tivoli set for 2016, and would be produced alongside the crossover.
[Photo credit: Minseong Kim/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0]
The post Ssangyong Planning Jeep Wrangler Rival For US Market Debut appeared first on The Truth About Cars.
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