- Low business performance in the first quarter, resulting from negative external factors, such as the soaring raw material prices and sluggish domestic SUV market
- Anticipating improvements in the second-quarter performance with an increase in sales of the Chairman W and Chairman H

SsangYong Motor (CEO and President Choi Hyung-tak;www.smotor.com) announced on April 25 that it recorded a sales volume of 677.6 billion won in the first quarter of 2008.

The company sold a total of 26,980 units of vehicles, including 12,708 domestically sold units and 14,272 exported units. This sales performance is a year-on-year reduction of 21 percent. SsangYong Motor explained that the reason is because of the sluggish SUV market and the considerable impact on the first-quarter performance by consumers waiting for the launch of the Chairman W.

In line with the reduction in the sales performance, SsangYong Motor posted a sales volume of 677.6 billion won, which is a year-on-year decrease of 18.7 percent, an operating loss of 27.6 billion won, and a current net loss of 34.2 billion won.

Despite such a low performance, the Chairman H and the recently released Chairman W have successfully lured the attention of customers in the market, posting a year-on-year increase in performance of 9.8 percent (Chairman model). They are being assessed as playing a critical role in expanding the domestic large vehicle market.

SsangYong Motor also announced that it will be able to achieve performance improvements in the second quarter through the Chairman W and Chairman H, and the forecasted decrease in profits resulting from the rise in various raw material prices will be improved by engaging in continuous management innovation activities.

SsangYong Motor CEO and President Choi Hyung-tak said, ？The company suffered a deficit in the first quarter due to several negative factors, such as the soaring raw materials prices and the sluggish domestic SUV market, resulting from the rise in diesel prices. In the second quarter, however, we will focus all our efforts in achieving what we initially announced ？ an operating income to sales of 3 percent ？ by transforming into a structure where all our competencies are concentrated on sales, with focus placed on the Chairman W, and by continuously engaging in innovation activities.