Ssangyong Motor(President & CEO Lee Yoo-il;www.smotor.com), part of the US$14.4 billion Mahindra Group, announced on April 2 that the company sold a total of 9,342 vehicles in March 2012, - 3,785 in domestic sales and 5,557 in exports including CKD, respectively.

The sales accomplishment is viewed as significant as it occurred amid a recession. Ssangyong recorded an increase in sales for three months in a row on the back of strong sales of the Korando Sports, recovering the 9,000 sales mark again in five months since last October when sales stood at 9,125 vehicles.

The Korando Sports has received a positive response from the market, with the accumulated contracts reaching 10,000. It is the third model to record over 2,000 vehicle sales in one month, following the Actyon Sports in 2006 and the Korando C in 2011.

Ssangyong’s domestic sales stood at 3,785 vehicles with a 21.7 percent increase compared to the previous month thanks to robust sales of the Korando Sports and increased sales of the Korando C and the Chairman, displaying the highest sales since April 2011 when sales stood at 3,980 vehicles.

However, the company’s exports for this March recorded a modest decrease of 3.4 percent compared to the previous month, due to temporary factors such as preferred supply for the domestic market with increased demands and potential customers waiting for the new Korando C low CO2 model in the market.

Ssangyong plans to expand sales in India by bolstering the local production/sales system as well as making steady progress for the complete knocked down (CKD) version in order to launch the Rexton in the second half of the year.

Lee Yoo-il, CEO of Ssangyong Motor, commented, “I am very happy to see encouraging signs concerning our sales target for this year through a favorable response to the Korando Sports in the market.” Lee added, “We will continue to do our best to launch refresh models and upgrades successfully this year, with differentiated marketing strategies aimed at securing demand.”