Ssangyong.

The Ssangyong Business Group was founded in 1939 and is now a large conglomerate with interests in cement, oil, paper and financial, information and leisure services. In 1986 Ssangyong bought the Ha Dong Hwan Motor Company which had been making four wheel drives and trucks since 1954.

Ssangyong formed an alliance with Mercedes Benz in 1991, licensing light commercial diesel and petrol engines and other components.

The Ssangyong Musso four wheel drive has been in production since 1993. It went on sale at Mercedes Benz's Australian dealers in August 1996 and was joined by the short wheel-base Korando in January 1998.

Late 1997: The Korean car-make Daewoo took a controlling interest in Ssangyong. It will be interesting to see what this means for the Mercedes relationship.

August 1998: The Musso is now being sold through Daewoo dealers as the Daewoo Musso. The 2.3L 4-cylinder has been dropped.

The Name ...

SsangYong means twin dragons and refers to a legend in which two dragons waited 1000 years to fly to dragon heaven. Finally, a single cintamani which was necessary for the journey was released. Each dragon encouraged the other to take it and make the trip, until they both missed the opportunity. The king of heaven was so touched that he released a second cintamani and the two dragons entered heaven together
- after a company brochure.

Go to the Daewoo, Ssangyong Musso, Korando or Mercedes Benz pages