Korean Car Manufacturer Ssangyong revealed their latest MPV, the Korando Turismo in their home country. The biggest talk about the Korando Turismo is that it is a 11-seater premium vehicle which Ssangyong prefers to call it MLV which translates to Multi Leisure Vehicle. Although it stands best for use in long leisure drives, this MLV will also justify off-roading, in the city and for business purposes too. The Korando Turismo boasts of four rows of seats offering several folding options including the second and third row seats can being folded as tables or last three rows folded flat too. The vehicle is also known as Rodius and Stavic in some countries.
The Korando Turismo is the result of two and a half years of dedicated research and investment of about $165 million, thereby allowing Ssangyong to boast of an innovative, premium quality product in their stable. There have been talks previously about Ssangyong considering the Korando 5-seater to be their second product in the Indian market after the Rexton. Considering the demand for MPV’s in India the 11-seater Korando Turismo could also be launched in India. Anand Mahindra, Chairman and MD of Mahindra tweeted about their new MLV and expressed his excitement and it’s potential for the Indian market.
The new Ssangyong MLV gets a refreshed exterior design characterised with the three line grille smoothly joining the projector headlamps and possessing their newly designed logo. Ssangyong confirms the 2014 Korando Turismo will be powered by a 2.0-litre diesel engine (155 PS and 360 Nm) as well as 3.2-litre V6 petrol engine (for Korean and Russian markets only), mated to a 6-speed manual or 5-speed automatic gearbox. All-wheel drive will be offered as an option. Many of these components come from Mercedes-Benz.
The Mahindra SsangYong Korando Turismo is a full size van in the real sense, with a massive length of 5130 mm. It is quite wide at 1915 mm, with a height of 1815 mm. The wheelbase is a ridiculous 3000 mm. The Korando Turismo will be sold in 9, 10 or 11-seat configurations, offered in Luxury Touring (LT), Grand Touring (GT) and Royal Touring (RT) variants. The vehicle will be feature rich with touch screen display, navigation, ABS, airbags, sunroof, projector headlights, etc being offered on the top end variant.
The global unveiling of the Korando Turismo will be done at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show and might start hitting the roads by late 2013. Taking a hint from Anand Mahindra’s tweet about its potential India launch, we can expect the Korando Turismo to hit our shores by first or second quarter of 2014. Can the Korando Turismo take on the upcoming Force MPV, which is based on the Mercedes-Benz Viano? Expect a price of around Rs. 20 lakhs when the Korando Turismo hits our shores.
