page_title: Renault Samsung Motors
section_title: Beginnings: Samsung Group era (1994–2000)
hierarchical_section_title: Renault Samsung Motors / History / Beginnings: Samsung Group era (1994–2000)
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a 1995 Nissan Cefiro S Touring parked at Aramoana just out of Dunedin. It's quite dirty at the moment. It was imported to New Zealand from Japan in 2000.
context_page_description: Renault Samsung Motors, also known by its initials RSM, is a South Korean car manufacturer headquartered in Busan where its single assembly site is also located, with additional facilities at Seoul, Giheung and Daegu. It was first established as Samsung Motors in 1994 by the chaebol Samsung, with technical assistance from Nissan. The company started selling cars in 1998, just before South Korea was hit by the Asian financial crisis. In September 2000, it became a subsidiary of Renault and adopted its present name, although Samsung maintained a minority ownership.
  RSM markets a range of cars, including electric models and crossovers.
context_section_description: 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. (Korean: 삼성상용차 주식회사; RR: Samseong Sangyongcha Jusikoesa), the latter through Samsung Heavy Industries with Nissan Diesel's support. SMI was established in 1994 (incorporated in 1995) and Daegu-based Samsung Commercial Vehicles in 1996. 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 US$560 million. Samsung Commercial Vehicles was kept by Samsung, but finally it filed for bankruptcy at the end of 2000.
  Coupled with his interest on cars, Lee's project of building SMI as a global automotive company started out with technical assistance from Nissan, a company which at the time of SMI's early stages was in dire financial straits. SMI's affiliation with Nissan could have been one of the reasons for Renault buying a major share of the company, as Renault had become a major shareholder of Nissan by then. One of the very early planners for SMI has stated that technical affiliations for SMI were initially considered with Volkswagen, BMW or Honda. From 1998, Renault Samsung Motors sold cars in Chile with the introduction of the SQ5 (the current SM5).
caption: A Nissan Cefiro S Touring, which formed the base for an older version of the SM5
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