SsangYong works quietly to make rural inroads

By ALASTAIR SLOANE




Korean four-wheel-drive specialist SsangYong is aiming its Musso double-cab utility vehicles at the rural market - but it doesn't plan to go head-to-head with farm favourites Toyota, Ford, Mitsubishi and Holden.

"We said from the start that there was no point in trying to take on the Toyota Hilux, for example," said Ray Mountfort, of new Auckland SsangYong dealer Lifestyle Vehicles. "We aim to just work quietly away putting the vehicles in front of people and let them make up their minds."

The Musso range of rear-drive and four-wheel-drive vehicles will be available from early next year, priced between $29,990 and $42,990. They are based on the four-wheel-drive wagon which first appeared in New Zealand through Mercedes-Benz outlets in 1996.

The wagon was not exactly the best-looking vehicle on the block. Time hasn't improved it much either. But it used Mercedes-Benz engines and gearboxes and came with a reasonable reputation.

Still, it was too expensive, somewhere around $50,000. Its residual value went into free-fall. Dealers would shriek and run for cover when Musso was mentioned. They still do. But, in its favour, many of the Mussos still on the road have done big kilometres.

The components deal between Mercedes-Benz and SsangYong is still in place but the Korean company's presence in New Zealand these days is run by Russell Burling, whose company Rapson Holdings Ltd distributed Daewoo here before General Motors took it over. Burling and Rapson Holdings also have the franchise for SsangYong in Australia.

"The opening of the new dealership by Lifestyle Vehicles is the first major step in a new direction for SsangYong in New Zealand," he said.

SsangYong builds about 180,000 vehicles a year, most of them off the one platform. About 8 per cent of production is exported. Engines and transmissions are imported into Korea. Last year SsangYong built as many four-wheel-drive vehicles as Land Rover. More than 103,000 transmissions were imported from Australia, from the ION company - it used to be BTRA - in Albury, which makes gearboxes for the Ford Falcon.

The latest Musso range of utilities comprises two rear-wheel-drives and two four-wheel-drives. They are largely barebones models, using the five-cylinder, 2.9-litre Mercedes-Benz turbo-diesel mated to either a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic gearbox.

ABS anti-lock braking is a $1500 option. Driver's airbag - a standard feature pretty much everywhere these days - is also optional, at $1000.

"We can order them with airbags but customers don't seem to care either way - they just want the best price," said Burling. The wellside Mussos don't have as much room in the rear tray as many of the Japanese commercials, but there's more room in the cabin, certainly in the rear seats.

The pick of the SsangYong line-up is the Rexton, a well-equipped, five-seat, four-wheel-drive wagon powered by a choice of petrol or diesel engines from Mercedes-Benz and priced between $49,990 and $57,990. There's the 3.2-litre petrol unit from the E-Class sedan, producing 161kW (215bhp) at 6100rpm and 312Nm at 4600rpm and mated to either a five-speed Borg Warner gearbox or BTRA four-speed auto.

The diesel Rexton uses the same 2.9-litre unit from the Musso. It develops 88kW at 4000rpm and 256Nm at 2250rpm. Standard gearbox is the five-speed manual.

The Musso and Rexton handled reasonably rough country near Helensville with ease. The Rexton's traction control system is particularly impressive. Its on-road behaviour isn't bad either. Nor are its looks. From a design point of view, the Rexton points to SsangYong's future. The Musso points to its past.