WE’VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THE SSANGYONG ACTYON, AND FRANKLY ALL OTHER COUPE SUVS ARE DEAD TO US
If ever anyone tries to tell you that the BMW X6 was the world’s first coupe SUV and that all others that have followed are pretenders, please do try and correct them, because it wasn’t the Germans that invented this most niche of niches at all.
The X6 first arrived in 2008, but SsangYong was well ahead of the game – it was selling the Actyon coupe crossover thing that you see above from 2005.
It may not have been a looker (and yes, we know that’s in the running for understatement of the year), but the X6 is hardly a wallflower either. And there may be a conspicuous lack of rear three-quarter images available, aaand the name was supposed to be a mash-up of ‘action’ and ‘young’ which makes us want to vomit.
And yet despite all of that, we reckon SsangYong needs to remind everyone what a true gamechanger in the automotive industry it really is, even if the coupe SUV segment is one that we still very much struggle to understand.
The first gen Actyon came with petrol and diesel engine options and could be had with either two- or four-wheel drive. A two-wheel drive coupe SUV! The Actyon would sell like hotcakes if it was launched today. Way ahead of its time.