Renault Samsung Motors Co., the local unit of French carmaker Renault S.A., said Thursday it is looking to increase its production of the Rogue sport utility vehicle by 37.5 percent this year to help keep up with rising demand for the model in the United States.
  

As per request from the Renault Nissan Alliance, Renault Samsung's main production plant in Busan, 453 kilometers southeast of Seoul, will jack up its output of the SUV to 11,000 units from the previous 8,000 units, the company said in a press release.
  

The Alliance is a strategic partnership between Renault and Japan's Nissan Motor Co., which allocated production of the U.S.-bound SUVs to the Busan facility.
  

The latest decision was made as "additional production was necessary since the Rogue has become highly popular in the North American market," according to the company.
  

As of end-January, some 35,000 units of the Rogue SUV have been shipped to the U.S. market, five months since its first production batch was shipped out in September last year, the company said.
  

The carmaker earlier said it anticipates the Rogue to make up for about 30 percent of total production within the next five years. (Yonhap)