Ssangyong, Renault Korea See Earnings Recover

The earnings of Korea's two smaller automakers improved drastically last year amid hope that they are finally out of the doldrums. 

Ssangyong achieved its first surplus in six years on the popularity of the new Torres midsize SUV, while Renault Korea's exports to Europe of the XM3 compact SUV reached a record 100,000 units. 

Ssangyong said Wednesday that it achieved W1.34 trillion in sales in the fourth quarter of last year while operating profit reached W4.1 billion (US$1=W1,237). The last time Ssangyong achieved a quarterly operating profit was in the fourth quarter of 2016. It was also the first time since the fourth quarter of 2018 that sales surpassed W1 trillion. 

The main driver was the Torres, which came out last July. It is Sssanyong's first car to sell more than 4,000 a month since the Tivoli and Rexton. 

Renault Korea sold 98,861 cars to Europe in 2022. Powering the exports was the XM3, which called the Arkana there and sold 93,251 to account for 94.3 percent of the automaker's exports.