Formerly known as Ssangyong, KGM will be most familiar to What Van? readers as the maker of the Musso pick-up truck. However, it also has form in the car-derived, 4×4 LCV segment, with the Rexton Commercial tested here its latest offering.
Interior and loading
The base Rexton car is a large, seven-seater SUV, with the fifth-generation model having been introduced in 2021 and updated earlier this year. The Rexton Commercial sees the car’s rear rows of seats removed, and a mesh bulkhead installed. The rear side door windows are blacked out, but the doors themselves remain to offer a side access point to the 2.2m3 load bay, which is also accessible via the (electrically powered) rear tailgate. The cargo area itself has a rubberized floor.
The Rexton Commercial is available with a choice of K30, K40, and K50 trim levels. We drove the latter, which is priced at £38,995 excluding VAT – £4,000 more than the base model. K50 trim includes equipment such as 20in alloy wheels, a powered sunroof and a driver’s seat memory function on top of features added with the K40 trim such as leather seats, an around-view camera system, and a blind-spot detection system.
As befits the range-topping model, the interior of the Rexton Commercial K50 features plenty of leather and suede trim. Infotainment is via a 12.3in touchscreen, which looks decent enough, but could do with being angled a bit more towards the driver. It’s also not particularly responsive, often needing a couple of finger jabs to activate the desired function. On a more positive note, a separate panel of ventilation controls is clear and easy to understand. There’s also a good-looking 12.3in digital instrument cluster.
A benefit of the mesh bulkhead is that the central rear-view mirror, carried over from the Rexton car, can be used to see out of the back window – providing, of course, that your load is not roof-high.
Performance and drive
The Rexton Commercial comes with a single powertrain – a 2.2-litre diesel engine, with 202hp and 441Nm of torque, paired with an eight-speed automatic gearbox. The engine has plenty of power and feels nice and gutsy with good old fashioned diesel torque. It can however be quite noisy under sustained acceleration. The gearbox can also be a bit slow to respond in situations such as pulling out of junctions, though it generally shifts smoothly.
Although it’s a car by design, the Rexton’s underpinnings are more commercial in nature, since it has a ladder chassis which is shared with the Musso pick-up.
For a van that’s based on a tall off-roader, the Rexton Commercial isn’t too bad in corners – it grips well, and there’s limited body roll. The steering, however, is quite lazy, needing more than three turns lock-to-lock, and doesn’t feel very precise, though we imagine it might come into its own off road. The ride is also pretty brittle, to the extent that a juddering motion can sometimes be felt through the steering wheel.
We weren’t able to test the Rexton Commercial off road, but the spec suggests it should be able to cope when the going gets rough, with selectable four-wheel drive, a low-range mode, a 350mm wading depth, and approach and departure angles of 20.5 degrees and 22 degrees respectively. The model also boasts a 3.5t braked towing capacity, with a trailer sway control system lending assistance.
With recent departures from the car-derived 4×4 LCV segment, the only obvious current alternatives to the Rexton Commercial are the Land Rover Defender Hard Top and Ineos Grenadier Commercial – although a new version of the Toyota Land Cruiser Commercial is due to arrive later this year. As you would probably expect, the Rexton Commercial is cheaper to buy than those alternatives. However, it’s worth remembering that the Musso pick-up, which shares much with the Rexton, is cheaper still – although that model does fall foul of the recent HMRC BIK changes affecting double-cab pick-ups.
| Model | KGM Rexton Commercial K50 2.2L Diesel Automatic |
| Price (ex VAT) | £38,995 |
| Price range (ex VAT) | £34,995-£38,995 |
| Warranty | 5yrs/100,000mls |
| Service intervals | 1yr/12,500mls |
| Load length | 1,900mm |
| Load width | 1,130mm |
| Load bay height | 850mm |
| Gross payload | 700kg |
| Load volume | 2.2m3 |
| Engine size/power | 2,157cc/202hp |
| Combined fuel economy | 32.6mpg |
| CO2 | 227g/km |
| On sale | May 2025 |
| Key rival | Land Rover Defender Hard Top |
| Verdict | Has its faults but could make sense for those who can’t stretch to a Defender or Land Cruiser. |
| Score | 7/10 |
