CarBrandLogos archive · SsangYong · 2001

SsangYongRexton

The rugged body-on-frame SUV that has kept the company alive through four owners.

Photo: SmartTalk · CC BY-SA 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in SsangYong history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the SsangYong Rexton, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

The Rexton arrived in 2001 as SsangYong's flagship and has stayed in production ever since, through bankruptcy, Chinese ownership, Indian ownership and the rebrand to KGM. That continuity is the point: it is the product the company falls back on.

SsangYong Rexton RX270 XDi Facelift · Thomas doerfer · CC BY-SA 3.0

Design and engineering

The formula has barely changed. A ladder-frame or quasi-frame chassis, a front-mounted engine driving the rear or all four wheels, seven seats, a low-range transfer case in the serious versions, and a towing capacity that mattered more to buyers than the interior plastics did. Early cars used Mercedes-derived engines and transmissions from the technology agreement; the second generation of 2017 modernised the structure and the cabin considerably while keeping the separate-frame construction that most rivals had abandoned.

SsangYong Rexton · M 93 · CC BY-SA 3.0 de

In production

In export markets it undercuts the Land Cruiser and the Pajero by a wide margin, and the pickup derivative sold as the Musso has become the volume model in several countries. It is not a fashionable vehicle, and that is roughly why it survives.

IAA 2017, Frankfurt · Matti Blume · CC BY-SA 4.0

At a glance