Renault Samsung’s gasoline-powered QM5 SUVs being driven in Incheon, 40 kilometers west of Seoul. (Image: Renault Samsung Motors)
INCHEON, Sept. 7 (Korea Bizwire) – Renault Samsung Motors Corp., the South Korean unit of French carmaker Renault S.A., has added the gasoline version of its flagship QM6 SUV to its domestic lineup, a move to boost sales, the company said Thursday.
The 2.0-liter gasoline-powered QM6 went on sale in the domestic market Friday, with the same model mated with a 2.0-liter and 2.5-liter mills already available in overseas markets, such as Europe, Australia, Russia and the Middle East, since May last year, a company spokesman said.
The QM6 gasoline model is being sold here for 26 million won (US$23,000).
“Local customers prefer gasoline-powered sedans as they are quiet compared to diesels. These days, the demand for gasoline-powered SUVs is on the rise,” he said.
Honda Motor Co.’s CR-V and Toyota Motor Corp.’s RAV4 are all gasoline models, but they sell well globally, the spokesman said.
Renault Samsung aims to export 40,000 QM6 SUVs, both powered by diesel and gasoline, this year, the company’s President Park Dong-hoon told reporters. This is a sharp increase of 42 percent from 28,241 QM6s shipped out a year earlier.
In the January-August period, the carmaker sold 178,659 vehicles, up 13 percent from 157,654 units a year earlier.
The increase was helped by robust exports of the QM6. In August, QM6 shipments jumped to 3,683 from a mere 348 a year earlier, the company said.
The company’s lineup also includes the SM3 compact, the all-electric SM3 Z.E. sedan, the QM3 subcompact SUV, and the SM7, SM6 and SM5 sedans.
Renault S.A. owns an 80 percent stake in Renault Samsung.
(Yonhap)
