► First look at the next SsangYong
► It’s an electric SUV called Torres
► Due in Europe by 2023
SsangYong has finally confirmed the name of its next SUV. It’ll be called the Torres (after the Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia), and it’ll reach Europe in 2023 with a pure-electric powertrain. Key rivals will include the Nissan Ariya, Skoda Enyaq iV and Ford Mustang Mach-E, but we expect SsangYong will aim to undercut all of these competitors on price.
SsangYong has been beavering away on the Torres for quite some time now. The company announced the SUV’s existence in June 2021 as a concept car with the codename J100. It released a couple of teaser images at the same time – and, judging by these latest sketches, the car’s styling won’t change much for the production variant.
The Torres represents a new design direction for SsangYong. It looks unlike anything else in the company’s line-up, and seems to feature inspiration from some of the most iconic 4x4s on the market. The front end, with its vertical grille slats, looks similar to the new Hummer EV, while the rear end echoes the styling of the latest Land Rover Defender.
SsangYong has even borrowed Land Rover’s idea of the Gear Carrier. On the Defender, this is an optional side-mounted storage crate, designed to hold items you don’t necessarily want in your car (such as muddy boots or wetsuits). The Torres teased here (below) features a similar set-up mounted to its C-pillar, complete with a lid that doubles as a tray table.
It certainly seems that SsangYong’s target audience for the Torres is the rugged outdoorsy sort. Other styling changes in these latest teasers include smaller alloy wheels wrapped in knobbly off-road tyres and grab handles mounted to the bonnet. There’s every chance that the roof-mounted light-bar could be offered as an optional extra, too.
Technical details are still yet to be announced, although SsangYong has confirmed that it will launch a combustion-engined version of the Torres in Korea later this year. European customers will have to wait until 2023 before they can get their hands on the car – and when it finally reaches them, they’ll only have the option of a pure-electric powertrain.
SsangYong unveiled a zero-emission version of the Korando earlier this year, called the e-Motion. It was the brand’s first electric car – and it’s possible that the Torres EV could use a version of its powertrain. Companies such as Volkswagen and Hyundai have already employed similar part-sharing strategies, primarily for cost-saving purposes.
The Korando e-Motion is powered by a 188bhp electric motor and a 61.5kWh battery pack, which SsangYong says give the car a maximum range of around 210 miles.
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