Ssangyong Motor

SsangYong Motor Co. said yesterday it agreed to export knocked-down kits of its Kyron sport-utility vehicle worth
$1.39 billion to be assembled in Russia.

Korea's fourth largest automaker inked the so-called CKD export contract with Severstal-Auto of Russia to tap the
country's SUV market which has recently grown more than 10 percent each year.

"CKD export is the absolute choice in Russia because import tariffs amount to a quarter of the car's price," said
SsangYong's Executive Vice President, Moon-Suk, Kang.

"Based on our competitive price, we expect to expand CKD exports throughout the Commonwealth of Independent States."

SsangYong agreed to supply knocked-down kits of some 79,000 Kyron SUVs in the five years to 2011 in addition to the
Rexton SUVs already assembled by Severstal-Auto.

SsangYong also began mass production of the New Rexton yesterday in an assembly plant in Tatarstan, 1,000 kilometers
east of Moscow, to churn out up to 7,000 vehicles annually.

The carmaker expects Russian SUV demand to reach 370,000 units by next year, 170,000 of which will be imports.

- Source from Korea Herald (10th Oct, 2006) -