Beginnings: Samsung Group era (1994–2000) In the early 1990s, Samsung's Chairman
Lee Kun-hee recognised the automotive industry as the culmination of several others. For the Samsung Group, this would allow to leverage resources and technologies from the entire group including Samsung Electrics and Samsung Electronics. He initially tried to take control of
Kia, but competition from other bidders and legal restrictions led to him dropping the idea. Kia was eventually purchased by
Hyundai. Lee decided to create a new carmaker, Samsung Motors (also known as SMI) and a truck manufacturer,
Samsung Commercial Vehicles Co., Ltd. (), the latter through
Samsung Heavy Industries with
Nissan Diesel's support. SMI was established in 1994 (incorporated in 1995) In March 1995, construction work began on the Busan factory. Shortly after SMI started its operations, the Asian financial crisis hit. Samsung divested itself of SMI as well as other non-core subsidiaries. SMI was put up for sale, with
Daewoo Motors being one of the first interested companies, but, as the crisis deepened, Daewoo Motors itself was bought by
GM.
Hyundai Motors was also considered as a possible buyer, but corporate politics and strife between the Samsung Group and the Hyundai Group made this impossible. Negotiations with Renault started in December 1998, and in September 2000 the French automaker bought a 70% stake for . Samsung Commercial Vehicles was kept by Samsung, but finally it filed for bankruptcy at the end of 2000. From 1998, Renault Samsung Motors sold cars in Chile with the introduction of the SQ5 (the current SM5).
Later developments: Renault era (2000–present) Product and market expansion (2000–2010) After the 2000 acquisition, Renault renamed Samsung Motors as Renault Samsung Motors (RSM). That year, the company's sales began to improve. Journalists attribute this to the success of the first car manufactured at Busan in taxi fleets (the
SM5), which led to increased confidence of the model within the rest of their customer base. During the following years, the company introduced a new vehicle range, including the
SM3 in 2002, the
SM7 in 2004 and the crossover
QM5 in 2007. Over time, RSM changed its products from a Nissan-based architecture to a Renault-based one. On 26 June 2009, Renault and Samsung agreed to renew the right of the former to use the "Samsung"
trade mark on its products until 2020.
Decline in sales, electric vehicles and recovery attempts (2010–2022) The pressure from both Hyundai and Kia, dominant automakers in the South Korean market, increased during the 2010s, pushing RSM sales down by 27% in 2011. In the first half of 2012, they fell 41%. In August 2012, a personnel reduction of about 80% of employees was presented by management. Finally, Renault reduced its Busan personnel by 15% (about 800 employees). With the aim of reviving the company, it invested (together with Nissan) to make
Nissan Rogues for export to improve production output and also presented revised versions of the SM3 and SM5. During 2013, the company started to market a new compact crossover, the QM3, based on the
Captur. By late 2015, its cumulative sales since 2000 in the South Korean market reached 1.5 million units. In 2016, Renault Samsung introduced the SM6, a new mid-size model which is a
Talisman with some minor changes for the South Korean market, In 2018, the company introduced the
Clio By 2019, production and sales were again declining, and the company announced an extension of its contract with Nissan for continuing the assembly of Nissan Rogues until March 2020, although in a reduced capacity to secure production volume. RSM also announced plans to gain more production orders from parent Renault. Tensions with labour increased, as the company started an early retirement plan aimed at reducing the workforce. In March 2020, the company put on sale the
XM3 crossover. In 2012, RSM introduced an
electric version of its SM3 car known as the SM3 Z.E., imported from Turkey. In October 2013 the car started to be assembled at the Busan plant and in the same year it became the leading electric vehicle by sales in South Korea with a 58% market share. In 2016, RSM also announced its intention to market the
Twizy which was launched in 2017. In May 2016, the company announced a project to develop and produce a 1-tonne electric
light commercial vehicle with a 250-kilometre range on a single charge in partnership with local companies. , Chile was the only major market outside South Korea that RSM has sold its cars under the Renault Samsung Motors marque and not as rebadged Renaults. In 2015, Renault Samsung badging was replaced entirely by Renault in Chile, with the vehicles themselves now being known under their global Renault names (e.g. the Renault Samsung SM5 is the
Renault Latitude). In August 2020, RSM said it did not intend to renew the agreement to use the "Samsung" trade mark set to end that month, although it would keep using the Samsung name for a further two years as part of a "grace" clause. In March 2022, the company dropped the Samsung name, adopting the
trade name Renault Korea Motors and starting the process of changing the legal name by August.
Geely involvement (2022–present) In January 2022, RSM's parent Renault and
Geely signed an agreement by which the South Korean manufacturer would produce vehicles based on the latter's
Compact Modular Architecture platform, initially intended for the domestic market. Production was set to start by 2024. In May 2022, Renault said a Geely subsidiary was set to acquire a 34.02% of Renault Korea Motors through capital increase as part of their partnership, although the company would continue to be majority owned by Renault and a consolidated subsidiary of it. The capital increase operation was completed by the end of the year, leaving Renault with a 52.9% majority stake. Samsung share (through
Samsung Card) was reduced from 19.9% to 13.1%. Samsung is planning to divest its shares. In April 2024, the company changed its trade and legal name to Renault Korea, removing "Motors" and, except for the SM6, moved all its locally sold products completely to the Renault marque. In June 2024, Renault Korea introduced the
Renault Grand Koleos, heavily based on the
Geely Xingyue L / Monjaro and using Geely's
Compact Modular Architecture platform. In January 2026, Renault Korea introduced the
Renault Filante, also using the Compact Modular Architecture platform. ==Facilities==