(This delightful oddball comes to us by way of SaaberJon)
I admit it–I love oddball cars (I collect SAABs for crying out loud), so when I spotted a SsangYong Actyon Sports for sale on the side of the road while driving home from dinner on a dusky North Georgia evening, I had to stop.
The Korean company SsangYong (meaning double dragons) has no presence in the US but they’re not entirely new to the car game and have an interesting history. In 1964, Hadonghwan Motor Company, formed by the merger of Hadonghwan Motor Workshop and Dongbang Motor Company, started building Jeeps for the US Army. The company changed its name to Dong-A in 1977 before being acquired by SsangYong business group in 1986. They’ve since been through further changes in ownership and are now part of Mahindra & Mahindra. Most of the cars with which our readers are familiar follow their collaboration with Daimler-Benz starting in 1991, a foundation which gave SsangYong enough engineering knowhow to last for quite a while, presumably helping their continued existence today.
This 2008 Actyon Sports, still with the plastic wrappers on the seats, has no drivetrain–presumably that’s how it made it through US Customs. It was available with a 2.0 VM Motori turbodiesel, and two or four-wheel drive.
The paper in the window says it’s been in storage for the past six years and it looks like it just rolled off the assembly line. Curiously, it’s completely de-badged except for the SsangYong logo on the wheels.
It just goes to show, surprises really do lurk around the corner when you least expect them.
There are quite a few of these “glider” (drivetrain-less) Ssangyong’s on eBay right now. I believe a company brought over a bunch of these with the intention of installing electric motors before they went bust.
But for less than $10k, these could make for some VERY interesting engine combinations.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Other-Makes-Ssangyong-Actyon-Actyon-Sports-Plus-SSANGYONG-ACTYON-PICKUP-TRUCK-CREW-CAB-DIESEL-GAS-/131300921946?forcerrptr=true&hash=item1e9225125a&item=131300921946&pt=US_Cars_Trucks
So as taxpayers, we’ve already bought these things once.
Pretty cool little trucklet , I imagine it’d be a fun project and the price is certainly right .
-Nate
$5.5k for a Glider Kit is a good deal. I’d go with a pre 2004 emissions VW 1.9 TDI or an AMC 232 I6.
But can you register it with an older engine? For that matter, can you register it at all, or is something like this doomed to “FOR OFF ROAD USE” until it hits 25?
I have 3 in Minnesota that I bought cheap, and you are right -cannot register for street
The first time I heard of SsangYong was reading a magazine article regarding an SUV called the SsangYong Musso. I was never a fan of Korean cars in general at the time, but when I saw this, I remember wondering when this will make it here to North America.
When I saw the first image and read the headline, I assumed you meant the country, not the State.
Being a Georgia native (State, not the country) and familiar with Southern ways, I suspect the original owner bought it and immediately put it up on concrete blocks in his yard. (ba-dum!)
Wonder if a VW TDI would work?
A Mercedes diesel fits and works, that’s for sure.
The Musso and Korando were popular here in the nineties as pure workhorses.
Partly thanks to the MB diesels.
Mercedes licensed SsangYong to build them, as it says right here on the sticker.
It’s the second generation Pontiac Aztek!
Will a SBC fit?
It’s in Georgia. A SBC will ALWAYS fit 🙂
LS1 swap?
Seriously though it looks like a North Korean Aztek copy……Ugghhhhhhhly.
I guess you havent seen their Rodius model then, this is good looking compared.
After googling the Rodius, I see what you mean. WEIRD!
But the Rodius does have amazing passenger capacity for a normal-sized vehicle. The landau-type roof reminds me of the postwar DeSoto “California Taxi”.
Interesting ute. I can imagine how much fun it would be going down to your local pep boys for parts… Either that or start honing up on your Korean. Don’t know how lax the licensing for out of country vehicles is in Georgia but I would want to check those laws out before putting my money down. Here in Canada we just have to wait 15 years put some daytime running lights on give the tax man some $ and can keep the original motor and transmission with the vehicle.
The front looks like a cross between an Aztek and a Nissan Juke.
To everyone who thinks this pickup version looks too much like an Aztek, WARNING, this is about to get graphic…
I actually don’t think it’s really all that unattractive. That sharknose front end reminds me of a Willys.
Even worse, that looks like a BMW X6.
I always thought BMW saw this and thought it was a good idea, so copied it.
I’m surprised someone l like Wilderness EV didn’t pick up the batch of them.
In a nutshell, let’s assume I could put an engine and trans into this, no problem. But what do you have to do to register it and make it street legal? Carry the question a bit farther. What if I build a car in my garage? Frame, engine, body. Can I ever register it and make it street legal?
Kit car licensing varies state to state, but it’s what this, and your, scenario would fall under. Typically it’s not too much of a hassle, the DMW will issue you an original VIN.
It helps that these were also shipped here completely badge-less, the EV company was apparently going to sell it as an Original Manufacturer despite obviously being based on something else, a la Saleen.
The EPA is getting more savvy (Google their Land Rover seizures), so shipping over a car engine-less, and then retrofitting it as it was equipped overseas originally will certainly draw more suspicion.
There was a company called Phoenix making these electric: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Motorcars.
By the way, Ssangyong also made their version of the Isuzu Trooper, as Korando Family. Their Musso was sold as a Mercedes in Australia, as was their Istana van, sold as Mercedes in Chile and other countries.
Musso wasn’t sold in Australia as a Mercedes. On introduction in Australia in 1995, they were sold via Mercedes dealers but the novelty wore off and they got the shove. Some buyers put the star badge on them, trying to justify their stupidity.
KJ
According to Wikipedia and Drive.com.au it was sold in Mercedes dealers, as a Mercedes, in Australia and some other SE Asian nations. It looks like in Australia all it received to differentiate it externally wasn’t the star, but a “Powered by Mercedes” badge. Regardless, they still sold it as a “Mercedes Musso” prior to rebadging it as a “Daewoo Musso.”
Forget Wiki, I was in a MB dealership in 1995. They had a Powered by Mercedes decal on the window, definately not sold as Mercedes Musso in Australia. After all the oil started draining out of everything and breakdowns, dealers and MB lost interest completely.
This aside, the current offerings and last 10 years of them are excellent cars.
KJ
Yes, ditto in NZ back in the mid-90s: sold by Mercedes dealers as a Ssangyong, not a Mercedes. I was visiting Auckland (NZ’s largest city) in 1995 and specifically went to the Mercedes dealer to check out the then newly-released Musso, as I knew it was styled by Ken Greenley, so was interested in seeing it in the metal for that reason – I remember the Powered by Mercedes decal you mention!
I remember seeing the pictures of the Musso and a few other SsangYong vehicles and reading the “capsule” sum-ups printed in the British magazine CAR…they were never favorable. The best part of a Musso was it’s Mercedes drivetrain.
Since no one else has said it, the truck (?)pictured here looks like an Acura RSX front end graphed on to a lowered F150 pickup cab and box.
$3800.00 on eBay with free shipping anywhere in the lower 48 States
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Other-Makes-Ssangyong-Actyon-Actyon-Sports-Plus-NEW-GLIDER-PICKUP-TRUCK-CREW-CAB-MAY-USE-W-TOYOTA-/141413271069?forcerrptr=true&hash=item20ece3461d&item=141413271069&pt=US_Cars_Trucks
These are everywhere here, one often parks across the road from my place. I’m pretty sure Ssangyong translates into “Arrgh, my eyes!” In Korean.
Ditto in NZ – several here in my town, none parking within my line of sight thankfully… One of our greatest sporting heroes, former All Black Sir Colin Meads, regularly appears on TV/advertising mailers espousing their virtues. I believe your translation is correct, and is especially apt when combined the the translation for Actyon: “They burn, they burn”.
Last year, as I was departing my son’s Boy Scouts meeting, I stumbled upon a similar truck labelled “Phoenix Motorcars” (www.phoenixmotorcars.com) It appeared to be some sort of test-bed pickup. From whatever angle I looked at it, it looked WRONG. The front fascia, along with the bulging hood, seems to droop—the look of a hung-over alcoholic whose facial muscles are unable to overcome the force of gravity. The character lines along the sides are too deep—as if a sculptor dug in too far, but didn’t have enough clay to repair the damage. And the cargo box—way too short, with taillights that share the same droop of the front fascia. In short, this thing is a complete mess!
I loitered around long enough to meet the driver. He explained it was produced by a Korean firm called Ssanyong. Though currently powered by a weezy turbodiesel, he explained it was slated for electrification by a local CA company. This got me to thinking: Even if this thing provided stellar electric performance—good power and long range—who in America would buy this fugly thing?
It is pretty clear to me that Ssanyong has not done what their Hyundai/Kia Korean brethren have wisely done—hire a design team that is influenced by the West, specifically California. The Chinese auto manufacturers simply copy Western designs, but the Koreans must either have too much integrity, or fear of lawsuits, to do this. The bottom line however remains—the Korean design aesthetic as revealed in this truck, is simply visual rape to my California eyes! Ssangyong…Phoenix Motorcars—take this thing back to Korea…it’s too ugly for us beauty-obsessed Californians. Or, at least, give it a facelift…a boob job…something…!
The Ssangyong line of cars are designed by Ken Greenley, former head of the automotive design course at the Royal College of Art in London. His most famous design should be the 90’s Bentley Continental. So, it isn’t like the man don’t know how to design beautiful cars. Or a car that wouldn’t blend in with the beauty-obsessed California crowd.
No, what he does is deliberately eschewing general design convention in what cars are supposed to look like. Especially when it comes to questions like “beauty” or a harmonius result. Sssangyoung is a very minor player, their only chance is being different. And noticed. Good or bad doesn’t matter, as long as they don’t blend in with the other also rans.
The design goal for the Rodius minivan was “to capture the essence of a luxury yacht.” i.e. this is not a car as such, but an appliance, a piece of industrial design that just happens to be a car. But with lines and connotation from other appliances, in other fields of industrial design. I have no idea what feelings the Actyon was supposed to note, but it does stand out from a crowd. Good or bad doesn’t matter, we’re still here talking about it…
I was not aware of the Greenley design–thank you for that Ingvar! Past design successes notwithstanding, it appears Mr. Greenley conceived this design after a long evening’s pub crawl.
You see quite a few of them on the road here in Australia. I often wonder what motivates people to buy ugly 4WDs from a minor manufacturer with dubious service backup. Maybe it’s the Mercedes drivetrain. The Mercedes you drive when you can’t afford a Mercedes?
But then, some people buy Great Walls. In a free country with heaps of other choices!
What motivates is easy – they are cheap!
“who in America would buy this fugly thing?”
The same Americans that are buying the Nissan Puke…..er…Juke.
Have you all forgotten Phoenix Motors, that was going to electrify these and sell them to eager Americans during the great EV Gold Rush of 2008? We covered the travails of Phoenix extensively at the time at TTAC. How quick we have forgotten that era when dozens of new EVs were being announced seemingly by the week. And they were all going to be built in 2010, the year of the Great Electrification.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Motorcars
I live about 15 minutes from Ontario, California where Phoenix Motorcars is headquartered, once in a while I’ll see a lone one roaming the nearby freeways or a car carrier loaded with them.
So did Phoenix ever actually deliver any of their EV-converted Ssanyongs? Their website makes it seem like they had some fleet customers, but it’s worded very carefully. I just read through a bunch of old Autoblog posts on the company and it seems like the original Phoenix SUT prototype had a ~130-mile range and could fully recharge in 10 minutes, which would be remarkable even now, but by the time they got closer to production they had to go with cheaper batteries that reduced both performance and range considerably, while gaining a second electric motor at the front axle to become AWD. Amazingly enough, it seems like Phoenix still exists and is building a Ford E-Series based EV bus.
These gliders have been on eBay forever and at one point there was a different Actyon-based EV constantly listed on eBay as well, the Boshart Tersus – a much more appropriate name for something that looks like this. It was a NEV version (limited to 25MPH max) using cheap, off-the-shelf electric-propulsion. It cost over $30k new and to no one’s surprise, they sold less than 10 of them. It seems like both companies dumped the un-built gliders into the hands of liquidators circa 2011, and they’ve been trying in vain to move them online ever since.
They must have sold at least one to a guy named Ron, though! Building your own third world-style turbodiesel pickup is the best use for one of them. Too bad about that front end styling, though…
If the guy R Henry encountered in California was able to register his, it shouldn’t be a problem anywhere else. Phoenix actually put this body through federal crash testing, so that should help (albeit with the electric drivetrain).
I really don’t know if SsangYong have significant sales and how the factory exists in the difficult times for carmakers. On our market they have a lightly represented sales network BUT any of their new models are quite rare on the roads. I saw maybe only few dozens on the road within a year. When they had been acquired by the Daewoo Motor the Musso 2 Litre diesel was more popular and could be seen more often than the newer or later models.
Interesting. These were sold with a 2L diesel, a V6 would slot in nicely or maybe a V8. They are very heavy though, 4000Lb or so. The idea above to badge it as a Willys is not bad!
Buy / build one as a Pontiac…no one will argue with you.
The tail lights look like they were designed for a car, in fact, this looks like it was intended as a sort of all purpose body style. That is, easily adaptable to passenger van, cargo van, truck.
I liked the design on this 2008 Actyon Sports! It’s different, not just another SUV. The front makes me think if the bow of a ship.
But Ssangyong is going “normal” now. See the current Actyon Sports on sale in Chile.
Better. Not perfect by any means, but better.
I sold these alongside my Saabs. Ssangyong are actually quite good to drive, very rugged and robust. Often bought and kept until they died, which is a long while. The current Actyon looks more acceptable and runs a new diesel engine, it is so refined and quiet to drive that it feels like a luxury saloon. The name kills them, folk would call and ask about Samsung, Samsum, Samyang so in the end I just agreed with them and called them whatever they wanted. I had people say they wouldn’t buy a car with a stupid name. I often asked the distributor to change the name, SYM for example to help. It is interesting that the Microsoft spell check asks – did you mean “sing song” !
KJ
That thing is hideous!!! Looks like the illegitimate lovechild between an Aztek and a Subaru Baja!
What an odd, odd thing to find in Georgia. Sharp eye for catching it though!
Just a sort of footnote, and as an example of how different markets are, see that here in Chile Ssangyong sells more than Chrysler+Dodge+Ram, or Fiat, or VW. And 3199 or those 5138 units are Actyon Pickups!
So I drove by this thing the other day. How hard would it be to put a motor in it? Is there a motor in the USA that is a direct fit?
Thats funny I just saw that exact truck in the exact parking lot, googled it and this is what i found!
Just bought one and am going to install a miata 2.o in it great value for a little money.
Did you ever get the truck registered? I have one with original motor and transmission. Nothing but red tape for registration.
this might be of interest to any usfk vets previously stationed at camp bonifas or guys who supply movie companies with military vehicles.
on a recent tour of the dmz between north and south korea, i saw a couple of these actyons driven by the korean army and found your link while trying to identify the vehicle.
apparently, another company in new zealand thought they looked cool too and are importing the actual up-armored dmz versions themselves.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/lifestyle-vehicles/68445651/Hey-ute-owners-Want-a-Demilitarised-Zone-Special
here’s an image of one of the actual korean army actyons…