SsangYong Motor sold 5,950 vehicles in September, down from 9,834 units a year earlier, the company said in a statement.

Domestic sales dropped 53 percent to 3,859 units last month from 8,208, while exports rose 29 percent to 2,091 units from 1,626 during the same period, it said.

From January to September, sales fell 17 percent to 61,854 autos from 74,707 during the same period of last year.

SsangYong Motor's lineup consists of the Tivoli, Korando, Rexton and Rexton Sports SUVs.

The SUV-focused carmaker has been in a debt-rescheduling process since April 15 as its Indian parent Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. failed to attract an investor amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and its worsening financial status.

It filed for court receivership in December 2020 after failing to obtain approval for the rollover of 165 billion won (US$148 million) of loans from creditors.

SsangYong and EY Hanyoung, an accounting firm, plan to select a preferred bidder and a secondary preferred bidder for the financially troubled carmaker this month.

Three bidders -- the Edison Motors Co.-led consortium, another local consortium led by EV firm Electrical Life Business and Technology (EL B&T), and Los Angeles-based EV maker INDI EV, Inc. -- joined the auction to acquire SsangYong. (Yonhap)