Renault Korea, GM Korea in urgent need for new vehicles as sales drop

Renault Korea and GM Korea are under growing pressure to launch new vehicles, as a lack of fresh models has led to a sharp decline in their sales, industry data showed Wednesday. Both companies have long been considered two of the so-called mid-tier automakers in Korea in terms of sales volume, but their positions are now being threatened by fast-rising brands like Tesla and solid sales performance from other conventional German luxury automakers. Renault Korea data shows it sold 7,201 vehicles last month, down 42.2 percent from the previous year. The sharp sales decline is attributable to the carmaker’s sales reliance on the Grand Koleos SUV and the Arkana compact SUV. Renault Korea enjoyed a long-awaited rebound in sales last year, driven by the success of its Grand Koleos hybrid SUV, for which cumulative sales reached 51,000 vehicles as of the end of last month. However, the new model sales effect has since faded just a year after its debut, as evidenced by the automaker’s drop in monthly sales in October. Renault Korea is going all out to spur sales growth with the upcoming launch