Ssangyong New Luxury Sedan to Feature Mercedes V-8

Ssangyong Motor Co. Ltd. names its new premium sedan the Chairman W and discloses it is powered by a 5.0L V-8 engine, the largest passenger-car engine in Korea.

Both the engine and 7-speed automatic transmission will be imported from Mercedes-Benz in Germany, Ward's is told.

Ssangyong, which primarily is a light-truck maker that became a unit of China’s Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. in 2006, has enjoyed a long-standing licensing agreement with Mercedes.

The Chairman W, the auto maker’s first new model in 10 years, also will be available with a 3.2L inline 6-cyl. mill produced by Ssangyong, a company spokesman says.

The luxury sedan will go on sale in South Korea next March, with the reported goal of selling 20,000-units in the domestic market annually and 10,000 abroad, primarily in China.

“The Chairman W is completely different from other large sedans,” says Ssangyong President and CEO Hyung-Tak Choi at a news conference in Seoul. “It will position itself as a leader in the domestic large-sedan market and set a news standard for beauty as the flagship sedan of Korea.”

The Chairman W is larger and more luxurious than the first-generation model, the spokesman says, noting “W” stands for “world class.”

The new car rides on an all-new architecture, with a completely new suspension and brake system, he says, and is expected to compete with the Mercedes S500, BMW 750 and Audi A8 4.2.

Ssangyong, which also builds the Rexton and Kyron SUVs, reportedly plans to bring five new vehicles to market within the next five years.

Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd., South Korea’s top auto maker, already has announced its rear-wheel-drive luxury Genesis sedan will go on sale in the domestic market Jan. 8.

It essentially is the same vehicle to be sold in the U.S., except the American version will have a more sophisticated suspension system. The U.S. sales launch is set for mid-2008.