Renault Samsung Motors to Develop Eco-friendly Cars with Lynk & Co.

Renault Samsung Motors will develop an eco-friendly new model with Lynk & Co., a joint venture between China's Geely Holding Group and Sweden’s Volvo Car Group. It aims to develop a next-generation strategic vehicle after the XM3 for the European market.

Renault Group has established a joint venture with Geely Holding Group. The joint venture will focus on the launch of Renault's eco-friendly passenger model in China and the development of an eco-friendly new model for Renault Samsung.

Renault Group plans to share its technology with Lynk & Co., which was founded in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2016, and develop eco-friendly new cars through Renault Samsung Motors.

Lynk & Co. released its SUV "09" in June. Although it has a body that matches Volvo's XC90, its price was in the 50 million won range, half the price of the XC90.

The new model to be developed by Renault Samsung Motors and Lynk & Co. is likely to be an SUV. If it is decided as a follow-up model to the XM3, it will help boost the operating rate and productivity of Renault Samsung’s plant in Busan.

The XM3 went on sale in 28 European countries in June, driving Renault Samsung’s exports. However, instability is still lingering at Busan Plant as wage and collective bargaining agreements for 2020 have yet to be reached. Stable labor-management relations are essential to domestic production of eco-friendly new cars. The company’s management believes that workers’ cooperation is urgently needed to change the carmaker’s production system, which is concentrated on internal combustion engine-powered cars.

Meanwhile, Renault Group plans to form a strategic partnership with Geely Holding Group to target the eco-friendly car markets in China in earnest. The French automotive group suspended its Chinese passenger car business in April 2020 but will make another attempt via this cooperation.