SsangYong’s bankruptcy filing brings to light Mahindra & Mahindra’s struggle with partnerships

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26 Aug, 2025 12:21

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After months of struggle that culminated in the failure to repay bank loans in time, South Korean SUV specialist SsangYong Motor Company filed for court receivership earlier this week.

Acquired in 2010, SsangYong has been the troubled unit for Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) almost every year despite several attempts by the Anand Mahindra-led company to turnaround operations. M&M owns 75 percent equity of SsangYong.

The cash-strapped Korean company has posted losses for 15 consecutive quarters and has been struggling to stay afloat for several months now. It even sold non-core assets to generate liquidity earlier this year, after M&M declined to inject new funds.

By the end of the March quarter, the Mumbai-based company wrote off investments of around Rs 2,000 crore it made in SsangYong after putting its entire stake in the Korean company for sale in February. Officially, it has not found any takers yet.

This is, however, not the first time that M&M has had trouble in managing operations involving takeovers and joint ventures. A look at its brief history sheds light on its struggle to diversify to reduce dependence on its core business which is tractors and domestic SUV business.

Mahindra Navistar       

M&M’s joint venture with Navistar of the US lasted for less than seven years after the two decided to part ways in 2012. M&M bought out Navistar’s stake in the two joint venture companies that made trucks, buses and engines. M&M eventually absorbed the consistently loss-making companies into itself a year after it bought its partner’s stake in 2013. In October this year, Navistar was bought by a Volkswagen subsidiary.

Mahindra Renault

Also in 2013, M&M bought Renault’s stake in the joint venture company that was responsible for making the Dacia Logan sedan for the Indian market. This loss-making JV lost steam in less than five years in 2010 after starting operations in 2005. Though M&M tried to revive the business by rebranding the sedan to Verito and even pulling out a hatchback Verito Vibe, the business eventually folded up. Verito was later launched in an all-electric form.

Mahindra 2-wheelers

After entering the mass market two-wheeler space through the buyout of assets of Kinetic Motors, M&M struggled for several ensuing years to crack the scooter and motorcycle market, which was heavily dominated by Hero MotoCorp, Honda, Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor. M&M eventually decided to exit the mass market space and instead focus on the premium end under the Jawa brand for motorcycles and Peugeot brand for scooters.

Mahindra Tractors in China

The tractor division of M&M enjoyed the longest stints in joint ventures in recent years within the group. Formed in 2008, the JV with Jiangsu Yueda Yancheng Tractor Manufacturing Co went on for nearly 10 years before the Indian company decided to sell its entire 51 percent stake in the JV in 2017. With the sale of its JV stake, M&M also exited the country, which is one of the world’s largest tractor markets.

Mahindra Pininfarina Engineering

Two weeks ago Mahindra Group company Tech Mahindra pulled the plug on Pininfarina Engineering after the pandemic made operations no longer relevant for the Italian company. Part of Pininfarina SpA, which is widely known for its vehicle designs, the engineering unit provided end-to-end vehicle development services.

Searching for a partner in EV biz

Since February of this year, M&M has been on the lookout for an investor for the electric vehicle business which it had entered in 2010 through a buyout. Top management of the company claimed in a conference call in August that a few companies had completed the due diligence process for the proposed investment in Mahindra Electric Mobility (MEML) which it hopes would be in the region of $100 million. MEML was born Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles after M&M bought a controlling stake in Reva Electric Car Company in 2010.

When contacted, M&M declined any comments on the story.