Renault Group is expected to pour more QM3 cars into Korea as preorders are soaring at Renault Samsung Motors, its struggling Korean unit that has high hopes for the new crossover vehicle.

According to industry sources, Renault Group’s Asia-Pacific division head Gilles Normand was visiting Korea this week possibly to talk with local executives about ways to secure a sufficient supply of the popular crossover.

“He is believed to seek support from the France head office to pour more QM3 cars into Korea,” said an industry source who declined to be named. “He was visiting Korea again in less than a month, which indicates the urgency of the QM3 supply issue.”

The QM3 ― known as the Captur in Europe ― is the first new car from Renault Samsung in seven years. And the market reaction has been explosive: Since the carmaker started receiving preorders from late last month, more than 6,000 customers have booked a purchase.

Renault Samsung, which has secured the first batch of only 1,000 vehicles that are produced at Renault’s Spain factory, is now making all-out efforts to meet the unexpected, soaring demand and to continue the recent momentum until the car goes on sale in March.

“We didn’t realize customer demand would be this high for the QM3. We will solve the supply issue together with the head office as soon as possible,” Renault Samsung’s sales chief Park Dong-hoon recently told reporters.

Despite the surging preorders, Park hinted the company had no immediate plan to produce the car at its Busan plant, citing additional costs for new facilities.

The company earlier announced that it aimed to sell an annual 10,000 to 15,000 QM3 cars in Korea.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)