All cars have a niche audience they cater to, and in the case of the QM3, the quirky yet stylish new “compact” SUV from Renault Samsung, the target consumer will be a bit more adventurous than most.

“We hope with the QM3, we create, and not only follow trends. We don’t want to be on the defensive ―we want to be on the offensive,” said Laurens Van Den Acker, Renault’s head of design, who was in Seoul for the Seoul Motor Show on Thursday.

A bright orange QM3 sat glistening on the showroom floor at the exhibition hall in KINTEX of Ilsan. 

The color spoke for itself, showing that the latest Renault-Samsung vehicle was meant to be a proactive design, rather than an imitation of any existing trend in the SUV industry, Van Den Acker said.

He added that he hoped to see more color on the streets of Korea, saying that he wished for “you all to go out and buy an orange QM3 to make your lives much more colorful.”

Koreans are known for preferring larger, gas-guzzling vehicles in mostly somber colors such as silver or black, something noted by many an auto designer who visits the country.

The QM3 is a sporty crossover ― going by the name of Captur in Europe ― that became the first new car that Renault Samsung unveiled since the QM5 in 2007. They’re expected to go on sale in Korea in the latter half of this year.

Another quality of the QM3 is its versatility, meaning, in Van Den Acker’s words, “You’ll buy it because you love the style, you’ll buy it because it’s very practical and because it’s compact.”

Regarding whether the European economic crisis will have further negative impact on Renault, which has been suffering from lackluster sales over the past few years, the designer said he sees the crisis as already over.

As a designer, “we are already living in 2015 and 2016,” he said, adding that the company had no intention of downsizing its design functions, since it knows the importance of design.

“Design is really the future. It’s the last thing we want to save money on. I think Renault is doing relatively well despite the crisis.”

By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)