"How to achieve its goal three months of sales? By becoming a vendor at Renault Samsung, "The joke circulating these days at the dealership in Seoul, during the lunch break. Their enthusiasm was due to booming sales of Korean-French manufacturer since early 2010.
A surge of 74.6% on the South Korean market in January (compared to last year), while exports registered a strong increase of 43.6%. This spectacular start due to the immediate success by winning the new SM5, the car manufacturer's flagship, launched last month. The third version of the sedan, developed from the chassis of the Laguna 3 sells like hotcakes and allows Renault Samsung to face the future with serenity.
"This is a key operation, the SM5 must ensure the future of the brand for five years," said CEO Jean-Marie Hurtig.
Image quality
Things seem to parties because these excellent figures confirm the good results registered by the manufacturer in 2009, world in crisis. Defying the pessimistic prognoses of its own troops, the Korean branch of Renault reported a 31% increase in sales last year, thanks to a South Korean market remained buoyant despite the international situation. Based on image quality, still up in surveys of consumers, the manufacturer has strengthened its position as the second group of Korea, at GM Daewoo. In the land of morning calm, Renault Samsung is the manufacturer that goes against the behemoth Hyundai-Kia, which controls nearly 80% market share.The success of the SM3 but also export the Koleos, an SUV of the year in China, enable the brand to address the global recovery with optimism.
Performance that also strengthen the position of the manufacturer within the Renault group. In 2009, South Korea became the third largest market for Renault (except Nissan) behind France and Germany. A spectacular leap from 9th place, a year earlier, made possible by the lowered sales in major markets like Turkey, Italy or Brazil.A breakthrough that allows the manufacturer to get rid of its image of Tom Thumb the group, which sticks to the skin from its takeover in 2000, on the verge of bankruptcy.
Logistically, Renault Samsung has also taken advantage of the crisis to increase its role in the alliance: taking advantage of the fall of the Korean won against the yen, the Pusan plant provides more and more parts to workshops Nissan, on the island of Kyushu. "Korea becomes competitive with China," said Jean-Marie Hurtig, who can also rely on the quality of South Korean engineers and a social climate less tense than in Hyundai and Ssangyong.
Only downside, the rise steeply from the Korean currency against the dollar and the euro, which threatens the competitive edge of exports.
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