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[Apha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Paul Lee] It has been a year since KG Mobility (formerly Ssangyong Motor) became an affiliate of KG Group.
Sales of new cars fell 40 percent on-year in August.
KG Group became the largest shareholder in September last year by acquiring a 61.88% stake in KG Mobility for 365.5 billion won. KG Group Chairman Kwak Jae-sun was officially inaugurated as KG Mobility Chairman.
After being absorbed by KG Group, KG mobility performance has definitely improved. Sales in the first half of last year were 1.4218 trillion won, but in the first half of this year, it increased by 47% to 2.09 trillion won. During the same period, operating profit rose from minus 59.1 billion won to plus 28.2 billion won, while net profit also posted a surplus of 34.5 billion won.
However, Chairman Kwak Jae-sun, who recently led the revival of KG Mobility, has been embroiled in allegations that he threatened a shareholder who was staging a one-man protest to raise shareholder value in front of his home.
KG Mobility's sales have also been sluggish recently. KG Mobility's sales totaled 3,835 units last month, down 39.8% from the same month last year. It also fell 13.7 percent from 4,443 units in July. In particular, Torres, the flagship model, sold only 1,609 units last month, down 53.1 percent from a year earlier.
KG Mobility is preparing to launch a mid- to low-priced electric vehicle model of 30 million won in partnership with China's BYD, but it is difficult to produce meaningful results as sales of electric vehicles have declined significantly recently.
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
