Renault starts exporting the Twizy made at Busan factory

Renault on Thursday began to export the Twizy electric car produced in Korea to help revive sales of its Korean unit.

In October, Renault Samsung Motors started Twizy production at its sole plant in Busan, and the first batch of 142 Twizys will be shipped to Europe this week, the company said in a statement.

The ultra-compact car had been produced at Renault’s plant in Valladolid, Spain and exported to the Korean market. A total of 3,400 Twizys have been sold in Korea since being introduced in 2016, it said.

The two-seat Twizy is priced at 13.3 million won ($11,400) to 14.3 million won in the domestic market. Customers can get a Twizy at lower prices with government subsidies, worth an average of 5 million won.

The car has a driver airbag and can travel up to 80 kilometers (50 miles) on a single charge. It takes three and a half hours to fully charge the car from a standard 220-volt outlet, the statement said.

Renault Samsung, which is 80 percent owned by Renault, has one plant with an output capacity of 270,000 units in the port city of Busan.

From January to September, its sales fell 24 percent to 129,913 vehicles from 171,895 units in the same period last year.

Yonhap