Renault Samsung Motors: Nice Numbers, Eh?

Here’s sales performance that many vehicle manufacturers would envy: The New SM5—launched in Korea in January 2010—is produced by Renault Samsung Motors, a 80.1%-owned subsidiary of Renault. The original SM5 was introduced there in 1998. Since then about 500,000 have been sold.

2009 was a record sales year for Renault Samsung Motors, and contributing to that were sales of 60,900 SM5s, nearly have the total number of units for the year.

The New SM5 was engineered, in part, in the Renault Samsung Technical Center in Giheung; it is manufactured at the company’s plant in Busan. It is 192.5-in. long, 72-in. wide, and 58.7-in high, so it is a reasonably sized car; it features such things as a massaging driver’s seat, Bose audio, and a dual-mode ionizer with fragrance diffuser (clean, scented air?).

The car was introduced on January 18, 2010. Since then, there have been some 40,000 of the sedans ordered, well outpacing the previous year’s record performance. Looks like they may have another record on their hands.