Renault Samsung Motors Co., the South Korean unit of French carmaker Renault S.A., has recalled nearly two vehicles per car it sold in the last five years, according to data compiled Thursday.

According to Rep. Yoon Hu-duk of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, the carmaker has recalled 765,435 units between 2011 and the first half of this year, 1.8 times more than the number of vehicles it sold. A separate report by the Korea Automobiles Manufacturers Association showed that Renault Samsung sold 436,111 units in the same period.


Honda Korea also topped the list of importers in terms of recall rate. It has recalled 1.9 cars for every one car sold in the local market, the reports said.

With regards to the number of cars recalled, Hyundai Motor, the largest South Korean carmaker, topped the list by recalling a total of 1.22 million units, followed by GM Korea and Kia Motors with 629,014 and 389,869 units respectively, according to the lawmaker who quoted a report submitted by the Transport Ministry.

On Renault Samsung recording the highest recall rate, the carmaker said the number reflects its voluntary efforts in improving the product quality.

“In advanced countries, (carmakers) are encouraged to implement transparent, and voluntary recall rather than fixing the cars free of charge and not revealing the defects,” an official was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency.

“Renault Samsung has been sincerely improving the products,” the official said adding that it corrected 88.9 percent of the cars with defects.

Meanwhile, among the automobile importers here, BMW Korea recalled the most with 140,867 units, while Mercedes Benz Korea and Audi Volkswagen Korea recalled 68,272 and 68,104 cars respectively. The list didn’t reflect 125,519 Volkswagen units waiting for the government’s approval on implementing recall procedures.

The Environment Ministry has rejected the German carmaker’s recall plans three times so far for not specifying that it fabricated the test records of the emissions level.

The South Korean prosecutors are investigating into what role the head office of the German carmaker played in the engine manipulation scheme here. On Wednesday, investigators summoned Detlef Stendel, emission certification manager from the Volkswagen headquarters, for questioning. He is the first executive from the carmaker’s head office to be summoned for the probe.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)