Renault Samsung Motors Co., the local unit of French automaker Renault S.A., has recalled more cars than it has sold here over the past five years, a lawmaker said Thursday.

Since 2011, Renault Samsung sold 436,111 cars in South Korea while recalling 765,435 vehicles, meaning the carmaker recalled about 1.8 cars for every car sold here, according to Rep. Yoon Hu-duk of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea.

Such a high rate of recall could indicate many problems with the car, but Renault Samsung officials argued it was because the company was most faithfully working to improve the quality and safety of its vehicles.

"Most advanced countries encourage voluntary recalls instead of free repair services that do not require disclosure of problems with the product to the general public," a company official said, while speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Renault Samsung has the highest recall execution rate of 88.93 percent among all automakers here, meaning the company is most actively working to improve the quality of its products," he added.

By sheer numbers, local industry leader Hyundai Motor Co. recalled the largest number of some 1.22 million cars over the cited period, the lawmaker noted, citing related data from the transportation ministry.

However, when considering the number of cars sold here, Hyundai recalled 0.3 car for every car sold here over the past five years.

Out of all import brands, BMW Korea recalled the largest number of 140,867 cars between 2011 and the first half of 2016, according to Yoon.

Honda Korea, the local importer of the Japanese car, had the highest recall rate of 1.9 cars per each of 43,152 cars sold here over the cited period. (Yonhap)