Ssangyong Australia has released a mid-year update for their Musso dual cab ute. A facelift has been applied to both the regular Musso and the long wheelbase Musso XLV. There’s also new wheel designs and a new option to add more premium interior features to the Musso Ultimate.

Fresh Face, New Shoes

The makeover applies to both the ELX and Ultimate grades and includes a grille that’s now much deeper, with multiple chrome-finish horizontal bars. The lower front fascia has been reshaped and simplified, while the fog lights are now in vertical housings and sit slightly lower.

Headlights, front guards and bonnet shape are all unchanged, but aft of the new grille, there is now black wheelarch trim and lower body cladding, black door handles and black mirror caps.

“The new Musso embodies strength and toughness. The magnificent and imposing grille wraps the horizontal breadth of the front and harmonises with the restrained bumper that subtly supports the solid body,” said Lee Kang, Head of the SsangYong Design Centre.

Kang makes no mention of any changes to the tail lights or rear fascia, so presumably the Musso’s back end carries over unchanged for the MY21.5 update.

There are new look wheels, though, applied to both the 17-inch and 18-inch sizes currently available across the Musso and Musso XLV. Like the new side trims, these are finished in black, regardless of model variant or colour choice. Speaking of colours, the palette has been trimmed to six options, with Fine Silver and Maroon Brown deleted.

Luxury pack option

Interior trim choices remain unchanged at cloth and leather-look vinyl, but premium Nappa leather is now available as part of an optional ‘Luxury Pack’ for the Musso Ultimate.

Introduced due to customer feedback, the Luxury Pack also includes powered and heated front and rear seats, power adjustable front seats, power lumbar support for the driver’s seat, dual zone automatic climate control and a power-operated sunroof. Only available on the Ultimate, this adds $3,000 to the list price.

Familiar Underpinnings

Under the facelift, the Musso’s drivetrain is unchanged, made up of a 2.2-litre turbodiesel four-cylinder engine, with the choice of six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission on the Musso ELX and auto only on the Musso Ultimate. The same options apply to XLV variants that have a 300mm longer load tub (1600mm vs 1300mm).

Ssangyong’s part-time four-wheel drive system with low range and auto locking rear diff carries over, as does the 3500kg braked towing capacity.

The standard wheelbase Musso retains a coil-link rear suspension and 790kg payload, with the 1025kg payload of the leaf-spring rear Musso XLV also unchanged. On the Musso Ultimate, a coil-link rear is used on both the standard and long wheelbase versions, which means payload on the latter drops to 880kg.

Carryover Safety Tech

Standard safety and driver assistance tech on the MY21.5 Musso lineup includes Autonomous Emergency Braking with Forward Collision Warning, Lane Departure Warning, Front Vehicle Start Warning and Smart High Beam, as well as a reversing camera and front and rear parking sensors.

The Musso Ultimate adds Rear Cross Traffic Warning, Blind Spot Detection and Lane Change Collision Warning, as well as a 360-degree camera, speed sensitive power steering, tyre pressure monitoring and auto door locking.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is available range-wide, as is an 8.0-inch centre console touchscreen and 7.0-inch instrument display. To this, the Musso Ultimate adds auto door locking and HID headlights.

MY21.5 Ssangyong Musso – pricing*

Musso ELX 6spd manual           $34,990

Musso ELX 6spd auto               $36,990

Musso ELX XLV 6spd man        $36,490

Musso ELX XLV 6spd auto        $38,490

Musso Ultimate 6spd auto         $41,290

Musso Ultimate XLV 6spd auto  $42,790

Luxury Pack (Ultimate only)       $3,000