Ssangyong E100 EV Teaser Front
The Korean automaker had plans to launch the E100 in its home market this year

SsangYong will get continued support from Mahindra to keep its EV business alive even as the cash-strapped Korean firm is struggling to stay afloat.

In December last year, SsangYong filed for bankruptcy having defaulted on loan repayments earlier. This followed Mahindra’s decision, in April 2020, to not inject fresh equity into the loss-making auto brand.

However, it looks like Mahindra is still interested in SsangYong, but only with the electric vehicle division of the business. This was made clear by a statement made by Rajesh Jejurikar, the Executive Director at Mahindra & Mahindra.

He said Mahindra will continue to support SsangYong “to develop and supply the electric SUV drivetrain on MESMA 350 platform based on their requirements”.

MESMA is the abbreviation of Mahindra Electric Scalable and Modular Architecture (MESMA) which underpins the Indian automaker’s eXUV300 electric compact SUV.

The platform, which was showcased at the 2020 Auto Expo, makes use of a 350 V powertrain and can be used to develop EVs from the ground up and to also convert existing ICE vehicles to electric.

Back in July 2020, SsangYong shared teaser images of its upcoming E100 SUV that will share its underpinnings, and possibly the powertrain, with Mahindra’s eXUV300.

But it must be said that Mahindra’s decision to support the EV business SsangYong has high hopes for, comes as a surprise, especially when the Indian carmaker failed to find a buyer for SsangYong, which resulted in the firm being put under court receivership.

Mahindra eXUV 300 3
Mahindra stopped injecting fresh equity into loss-making SsangYong in 2020

Source – ETAuto.com