Ssangyong appears to have finally crossed 'employ a designer' off its to-do list, as the Korean company unveiled two concepts at the Barcelona Motor Show that were, amazingly, not that ugly.
The C200 was shown in two distinct variants: the Aero and the Eco - the former a 'normal' version of the car and the latter, of course, the green one. As you can see, the C200 is a crossover in the vein of the
Nissan Qashqai (what else?) and it actually looks quite decent. We have seen it before - at the Seoul Motor Show - but it's been tweaked a little bit since then to something closer to the showroom car.
If it ever makes it, that is, because Ssangyong is in serious financial trouble right now, after going into administration in January. Effective bankruptcy means that currently the maker is controlled by the Korean courts while it restructures and, hopefully, goes back into trading altogether healthier and ready to do business. This car should help when (or rather if) it goes on sale as predicted in March 2010.
The hybrid is further away than that, but March's cars will come powered by either a 2.0-litre turbodiesel or a 1.8-litre petrol unit linked to either the front wheels or all four via a six-speed manual or five-speed auto transmission. The Barcelona Aero model is, according to Ssangyong, '90 percent ready' for production, and is 'a big step forward for the company' in terms of its build quality and engineering integrity. The final production version, will be shown at the
Frankfurt show in September.
Mark Nichol - 8 May 2009