AUTOCAR ROAD TEST 5753

Korea’s off-roader specialist enters a new era with a fresh brand identity

Japan’s keiretsu – those widely diversified industrial conglomerates like Mitsubishi and Sumitomo – are globally renowned. And South Korea has similar ones, called chaebol.

In 2022, one such chaebol, the KG Group (which makes products as different as steel, fertiliser, renewable energy and, until fairly recently, fried chicken) bought ailing native specialist car maker Ssangyong out of receivership. The group’s new automotive arm – KG Mobility, or KGM for short – promptly sprang into being, the Ssangyong brand was dropped and the subject of this road test, the KGM Torres, became one of the first all-new cars to emerge under the grand new auspices.

This will remain a specialist SUV brand, the new management says, with a focus on tough, rugged, versatile family cars – although those cars will move over time towards wider integration of electric and electrified powertrains and more advanced technology besides. Now to find out how that all starts.

DESIGN & ENGINEERING

★★★✩✩

PROS Looks tough; isn’t heavy; respectable capability credentials

CONS Petrol engine looks rather limp on paper; most versions, EV included, lack four-wheel drive

The Torres sits in between KGM’s Nissan Qashqai-sized Korando and the seven-seat, ladder-on-frame Rexton SUV. At a little over 4.7m long, it’s proportioned like the Honda CR-V, with an even boxier silhouette, and there’s a surprising amount of visual character to its design that’s quite easy to warm to.

It’s built on a steel monocoque chassis designed to accommodate both combustion engines and electric drive. The regular Torres is powered by the same transverse-mounted, 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine found in the smaller Korando and Tivoli.