SSANGYONG has held the price of its Musso 2.9 diesel models despite improvements in performance and trim. In addition, stock shortages have prompted the importers to bring forward customer deliveries from this autumn to next month (June) but the new 118 mph 3.2 litre petrol engined GX220 is still set to arrive in time for August with a price around £25,000.

The British designed 4x4 Musso - which uses Mercedes-Benz engines - has clocked up 1,800 sales here since its launch a year ago.

Sample prices include: Musso 2.9D S at £15,999; 2.9D SE at £17,499 and the 2.9D GSE sells at £20,999 as a manual and £22,498 as an automatic. The additional diesel power has been achieved simply by building the engine in Korea to tighter tolerances than the Germans were achieving. The move added 4PS, taking the power output to 99PS.