Renault SA, the world's fifth-largest carmaker by sales, said it will use its experience in Korea as a springboard to enter the Chinese market in the near future.

Georges Douin, who stepped down yesterday from his post as the executive vice president of Renault, told Korean reporters that Renault Samsung Motor Co.'s development of engineering and manufacturing facilities would help the group expand into other Asia Pacific regions including China.

"China will be on the agenda for our new management. If we do enter China, we plan to do it with unique assets. It will be a mixture of what we did in Korea and in Europe," said the 60-year-old former executive of product planning and international operations.

Douin, the greatest supporter of the automaker's business in Korea, worked at Renault for the past 38 years after he joined as an engineer in 1967.

He will be replaced by Patrick Pelata as part of a sweeping executive council changeover started by new Renault boss Carlos Ghosn.

The French automaker had announced last November that it will invest $600 million in its Korean arm through 2008 to develop a sport-utility vehicle and a new gasoline engine.

"About half of the SUVs may be exported under the Renault badge to areas such as Europe and Australia," said Jerome Stoll, chief executive of Renault Samsung Motor.

Renault has no plan to tap the U.S. market again as of yet, since it has a painful memory of rolling out from the world's largest auto market in the late 1990s after experiencing dismal sales, according to Douin.

Renault-Nissan chief executive officer Carlos Ghosn, who took office last month, is scheduled to visit Korea around the end of this year to announce his Asia-Pacific plans, which are likely to include a production facility in China.

"Most automakers start with complete knock-down assemblies in China. We will probably follow Hyundai Motor Co. and Nissan's approach," said Douin.

The French carmaker sells 35 percent of its vehicles at home. About 40 percent are sold outside Europe, mostly in South America, Turkey and Korea.

Renault's contract to use the Samsung brand in Korea expires in 2010. Renault controls 70 percent of RSM's shares while Samsung owns 20 percent.

[Source: Korea Herald (July 1, 2005)]