Renault Samsung restarts overtime to meet demand

By Park Jin-hai

Renault Samsung Motors said Monday that it has restarted its Busan plant’s overtime schedule to meet increasing demand for new sedan and diesel vehicles.

Since November last year, due to sagging local demand as well as a decrease in exports, the automaker temporarily stopped any extra work.

Starting this month, the morning and evening shifts will put in an extra hour a day every week. Weekend and holiday overtime will also resume.

The company estimates that those overtime hours will produce over 5,000 more cars this month, escalating its October production to 22,000 vehicles, its highest monthly production in three years.

The company’s decision came after the successful launches of its diesel model SM5 D and flagship sedan new SM7 Nova, as well as production of Nissan Motor’s Rogue SUV at its Busan plant for shipments to North America.

“The successive launch of new models and exports has nearly doubled the demand from a year earlier. Thus we restarted the plant’s overtime hours,” said Oh Jik-youl, the company’s manufacturing chief.

The new SM7 launched in September had monthly sales target set at 200. But, within 15 days of its launch, its sales topped 500.

The SM5 D, launched in July, is also boosting sales of the automaker. The popularity of the vehicle that can run 16.7 kilometers per liter of diesel fuel has been pulling up gasoline-powered SM5 Platinum and TCE models.

Over 1,000 customers are waiting to receive their SM5 Ds.

In addition, the Busan plant’s Rogue SUV’s monthly production order stands at 6,000.

“We will continue to work hard to meet customer satisfaction by producing quality cars as well as meeting the delivery dates,” added Oh.