Renault Samsung, a Korean arm of French automaker Renault, began to sell this month a special limited edition of QM3 Cannes Blue with a discount of up to 1 million won ($870) for the summer season, the company said Sunday.

From July to August, the automaker will offer 500 units of QM3 Cannes Blue, the brand‘s third color revolution following the previous versions of Sonic Red and Chocolat Brown. 

The company said the QM3 Cannes Blue’s strong Cannes blue body and black roof harmonized with its external chrome fittings. The decoration was designed to be reminiscent of the car’s namesake resort town on the French Riviera.

The special blue edition is 1 million won down from the original price because of the tariff reduction from the Korea-EU free trade agreement, which was applied to all trims of the QM3.

Cannes Blue’s LE trim, targeting young and trendy consumers, costs 22.9 million won and the RE trim sells for 23.9 million won.

“We hope the special edition of QM3 Cannes Blue would be a cool breeze in this year‘s small sport-utility vehicle market,” said Lee Ki-sun, a manager of Renault Samsung’s production marketing.

Renault Samsung sold more than 23,000 units in the global market in June, up 37 percent from the same period of last year.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)