GM Korea and Renault Samsung Motors are aiming to recover their original OEM vehicles, which are imported from GM headquarters and Renault headquarters in France this year. It is noteworthy that the OEM import car market, which has not been able to compete since the peak of 2015, will be able to hit the second heyday with new cars to be sold by the two companies this year.

GM Korea selected GM Equinox as an OEM vehicle to replace the mid-size sport utility car (SUV) `Captiva`. As for the company, even in the domestic SUV craze, there is no SUV except for Trax. The company regards the car as a boxed check. It is one of GM`s representative SUV models that sold 294,458 units in the United States last year. It was popular enough to rank second in GM sales. There are two models with a 1.5-liter and 2.0-liter gasoline turbo engine. It is judged that Korea GM is able to compete with both domestic and mid-sized SUVs.

Once it brings in the equinox, the number of OEM cars of Korea GM increases to five kinds. It is half of the entire GM Korea family. It already bought Camaro, Impala, Bolt, and it had fun. Although the sales performance is getting worse, OEM cars are expected to increase because the company does not have the burden of producing and selling the products with huge investment costs.

Renault Samsung decided to introduce Renault`s small hatchback `Clio`, which had been delayed. The car, originally planned to be launched in August last year, has been put off for nearly six months since it has completed the certification process for domestic sales such as fuel efficiency certification. It was because of the problem with the specification and the color combination problem of the car which was released in Korea, and because it reacted well to the overseas market, it was difficult to secure the amount from Renault.

Also, Renault Samsung is expected to enter the pre-contract as early as March. The amount of water introduced this year is about 5,000 units. Aimed at young consumers in their 20s and 30s who prefer imported small hatchbacks. Renault Samsung is in talks with the headquarters to secure the price competitiveness of Clio. `Clio` is a European car that shares its body with QM3, another import sales car of the company.

After the first generation in 1990, more than 10 million units were sold in Europe. Domestic competitors are Hyundai i30 and Belostor. Import cars are expected to compete with Volkswagen Golf, BMW 1 Series and Mercedes-Benz A-Class hatchback models. However, except for golf, the Korean market, which is known as the "hatchback`s grave," is expected to be as popular as Europe.

According to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA), Korean OEM import car sales have declined to 23,768 units in 2016 and 17,558 units last year after peaking at 31,151 units in 2015. Currently, two GM cars and two Renault Samsung Motors sell imported OEM cars among domestic automakers.

The cars imported and sold by the two companies are less expensive than the cars sold by other imported car makers, but they have the advantage of being less burdensome to the after-sales service (AS), which is considered to be an "Achilles heel" of imported cars. However, if the domestic service center does not have enough spare parts, it can be placed in the same position as a regular imported car.

By Kim Yang Hyuk mj@


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