Koelliker UK has been appointed UK importer and distributor for SsangYong. The company has acquired certain assets from SsangYong UK Ltd which went into administration in December.

Paul Williams has been appointed managing director of Koelliker UK Ltd. He joins the Italian-owned company from Landwind Europe where, for the past year, he has been establishing the infrastructure and operations ready for the launch of the Chinese make in Europe.

Koelliker UK (KUK) is part of Gruppo Koelliker SpA, Italy the private automotive business which also handles the importation and distribution of SsangYong in Italy, Austria and Hungary.

Williams will have the task of re-vitalising and re-launching SsangYong which has seen registrations fall by almost 32% last year. In 2006 2,017 SsangYongs were registered, but only 1,299 have been sold to the end of November, 2007 according to the SMMT.