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| Renault Korea Motors manufacturing plant in Busan / Courtesy of Renault Korea Motors |
Renault Korea Motors, the South Korean unit of Renault S.A., has said it is developing a new SUV in a joint project with a Chinese automaker initially for a domestic launch next year.
Renault Korea said it will collaborate with Geely Automobile Holdings, China's largest privately owned automotive group, to launch a midsized gasoline hybrid SUV model in Korea in the second half of next year.
The new SUV will be built on the compact modular architecture (CMA) platform that was jointly developed by Geely and Volvo Cars at the Chinese carmaker's research and development center in Sweden, Renault Korea said.
"If the new model receives a strong response from the market, the company will be able to develop additional new models under the joint project (of Geely and Renault Korea)," Lee Hae-jin, chief of Renault Korea's manufacturing division, said in a press briefing Tuesday on the carmaker's sole plant in Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul.
In January last year, Geely Holding Group and Renault Group announced they will develop an all-new vehicle lineup of fuel-efficient hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and internal combustion engine models for the Korean market and abroad. HEVs are gasoline hybrid models.
Geely owns Volvo Cars, while Renault has a 52.82 percent stake in Renault Korea. Geely and Samsung Card Co. hold 34.02 percent and 13.13 percent stakes, respectively, in Renault's Korean operations.
Renault Korea produces three models ― the XM3 compact SUV, the SM6 midsize sedan and the QM6 SUV ― at the 300,000 unit-a-year plant.
From January to April, its vehicle sales fell 24 percent on-year to 42,396 units from 55,554 a year earlier due to a lack of new models. (Yonhap)
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