Electric Vehicle 'Saetbyeol' Three-Way Battle in Ssangyong Motor Acquisition Race

SM Group Absence... Edison Motors VS EL BNT VS Indi EV Competition

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Je-hoon] The acquisition battle for Ssangyong Motor, which was considered a dark horse with the withdrawal of SM Group, has turned into a war among electric vehicle (EV) "rising stars." Emerging EV companies such as Edison Motors, EL B&T, and IndiEV are competing in a three-way race, with the industry expressing expectations regarding future growth potential but concerns about stable management activities.

According to related industry sources on the 16th, the three companies that entered the main bid for Ssangyong Motor are mid-sized and small enterprises based on electric vehicles (EVs), unlike previous owners such as Daewoo Group, Shanghai Automotive, and Mahindra Group, and their sales scale is not large.

Among them, Edison Motors is an electric bus company with about 10 years of experience, and its strength lies in having actual vehicle mass production experience compared to other acquisition candidates. They have presented a plan to transform Ssangyong Motor into an EV-specialized company by producing and selling 10 types of electric vehicles by next year and 30 types by 2030. To this end, Edison Motors has raised about 270 billion KRW on its own and plans to invest an additional 400 billion KRW by attracting private equity fund (PEF) Keystone Private Equity (PE) and KCGI as strategic investors (FI).

EL B&T was founded by Chairman Kim Young-il, a former head of Ssangyong Motor’s design office, and is reported to possess electric vehicle and related parts manufacturing technology. Recently, it has partnered with Saudi Arabia International Industrial City Company (SIIVC) with an eye on entering the Saudi electric vehicle market. Although it was not considered a strong candidate in the early stages of the acquisition battle, it has drawn attention by submitting the highest bid in this round in partnership with Pavilion PE.

IndiEV is a U.S.-based electric vehicle company established in 2017. It recently completed the development of a mid-size electric sport utility vehicle (SUV) codenamed ATLAS and has presented a blueprint to start mass production in early 2023.

The industry expects the Edison Motors and EL B&T consortium to form a de facto two-way battle. Expectations and concerns about these companies participating in the main bid for Ssangyong Motor are mixed. While the challenge of these EV rising stars aligns well with the global carbon neutrality trend, there are considerable concerns about whether these "shrimp that swallowed a whale" can maintain stable management activities.