Renault Samsung seeks to take back lost taxi market with SM5 Nova

Francois Provost, Renault Samsung Motors CEO, stands beside the mid-size SM5 Nova sedan during a launch event in southern Seoul, Monday. By launching the SM5 Nova, the carmaker has completed its "new design identity" lineups that were first introduced with the launching of the QM3 in 2013. / Yonhap

By Park Jin-hai

Renault Samsung Motors has been upping its efforts to take back the taxi market the carmaker once enjoyed popularity in, now dominated by Hyundai Motor, by launching the SM5 Nova taxi.

“The SM5 Nova LPG model is one that will surely gain popularity among rental car businesses, taxi drivers and the disabled,” said Park Dong-hoon, sales chief and vice president of Renault Samsung Motors during a launch event in Seoul, Monday.

Unlike the private passenger market where the SM5 has been selling as much as Hyundai Motor, it has been experiencing low-demand in the corporate car and taxi market, he said.

The SM5 Nova taxi has a donut shaped LPG tank that has been placed under the trunk, securing trunk space 100 percent, while other LPG taxies have protruding tanks that take up a large portion of trunk space.

The LPG tank has been developed by the automaker with the investment of 20 billion won and has 20 percent improved viscosity and 15 percent more thickness but is 10 percent lighter than traditional cylindrical tanks, according to the carmaker.

“The relative low performance comes partly from the lack of sales networks that are distinctively different from those for the passenger car market. With the new product and the improved sales network, the SM5 Nova will make difference.”

The company is targeting to sell more than 30,000 SM5 Novas this year, with 40 percent of them being LPG vehicles.

The SM5 is the company's most popular midsize sedan, with over 900,000 sold since its 1998 debut in Korea. It sold 27,000 SM5s last year.

In launching the SM5 Nova, the carmaker has completed its "new design identity" lineups that were first introduced with the launching of the QM3 in 2013.

The Nova is available as the 2-liter gasoline-powered SM5 G, turbo-powered SM5 TCE, diesel-powered SM5 D and LPG-powered SM5 LPLi.

The base price starts at 22.5 million won for the SM5 G.