SsangYong Motor records losses last year but at sharply reduced rate

Torres SUVs are on the road. [SSANGYONG MOTOR]

SsangYong Motor continued to bleed red ink last year, but at a sharply reduced rate helped by increased sales of its latest Torres SUV.

The automaker generated a net loss of 60.1 billion won ($46 million) in 2022 from 266 billion won in the previous year.

That is the best yearly figure since 2018 right before the company went under court receivership.

Operating losses came in at 112 billion won from 261 billion won during the same period. Sales jumped 41 percent to 3.42 trillion won from 2.43 trillion won.

"With our fresh new start with KG, we were able to narrow the losses thanks to the increased sales and exports of revamped Rexton series and latest Torres SUV," SsangYong said in a statement.

"Profitability will grow further this year with the release of new cars like U100 and the upcoming global introduction of Torres SUV."

It sold a total of 113,960 vehicles last year, up 35 percent on year. Of them, exports accounted for 40 percent.

Shipments to Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Israel and other Middle Eastern countries came to 3,819.

SsangYong's lineup consists of the Tivoli, Korando, Rexton, Rexton Sports and Torres SUVs.

First introduced in July, around 20,000 Torres orders have been booked as of December. Torres was also released in Chile in November.

U100, an electric version of Torres, will be introduced later this year.

Last year, a KG Mobility-led consortium acquired 62 percent of the beleaguered automaker.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]