Renault Samsung Motors to increase production

Renault Samsung Motors (RSM) said yesterday it has resumed overtime work at its Busan plant for the first time in 11 months to improve its vehicle deliveries because of rising demand.

The company stopped overtime work in November 2013 as a result of sluggish domestic sales and decreased exports, but the automaker said it has decided to have one hour of overtime work for each of the two eight-hour shifts at the factory.

Workers at the Busan plant also agreed to work overtime on Saturdays.

RSM said that the additional hours will increase production output by 5,000 units per month, and the total number of cars produced this month will reach a three-year high of 22,000 vehicles.

“With the release of new products and increased export volume, our production output has doubled from last year, so we decided to resume overtime work,” said Oh Jik-youl, chief of RSM’s manufacturing division.

The Korean unit of the French automaker Renault has seen its sales recover this year. Domestically, the company sold 53,712 units through September, up 29.6 percent from a year ago. It is hoping its SM5 diesel midsize sedan and flagship SM7 Nova luxury sedan will lead sales for the remainder of the year.

RSM exported 48,440 units, a 1.9 percent drop from last year, but the company is confident it can turn the tide after it started shipments of the Nissan Rogue crossover to North America on Sept. 26.

RSM also said yesterday that it will appeal the Busan District Court’s decision made on Wednesday that some of its regularly paid bonuses should be included in employees’ base pay, which is used to calculate other allowances such as overtime pay and retirement bonuses.

The company and the union signed a wage agreement last month, but both sides had agreed to follow the court’s decision on the issue of base pay.

BY JOO KYUNG-DON [kjoo@joongang.co.kr]