Park Dong-hoon, the CEO of Renault Samsung Motors, announced Wednesday the firm’s goal for 2017 to sell 270,000 units on its continued sales momentum of the SM6 sedan, QM6 SUV and two new models set for launch this year.

“We have two new models scheduled for launch this year, the Clio and the Twizzy. We hope to suggest a new definition of mobility through the vehicles,” Park said in the new year conference at the Westin Chosun Hotel, central Seoul.

Riding on last year’s sales momentum, the local unit of French automaker Renault. will strive to sell a total of 270,000 vehicles to score its best ever sales, he said. It will seek to sell some 120,000 units in the domestic market and export 140,000 units.

The Renault Samsung’s Clio is a compact hatchback, which the company is aiming to launch in the first half of this year.

“Hatchback cars can be a hit in South Korea. Some cast doubts (over the Clio), because it is a new type of vehicle here,” said Park.

The all-battery electric vehicle Twizzy is currently ready for release, but will be rolled out gradually, the automaker said.

The vehicle will be launched in the B2B segment to test the market before hitting local dealerships.

In a bid to reach its target, the automaker will boost productivity of the firm’s plant in Busan, South Korea’s second-largest city.

Park added that Renault Samsung would make all possible efforts to rank No.1 in terms of customer service and quality this year, by increasing the number of dealerships to 250 from last year’s 195.

At the conference, Park also highlighted on the automaker’s outstanding sales of its midsize sedan SM6 and QM6 SUV in 2016.

“The year 2016 began with SM6 and ended with QM6. We flagged more sales than our yearly target,” Park said.

In 2016, Renault Samsung Motors sold a total of 57,478 SM6 vehicles, surpassing the yearly target mark of 50,000 units on successful sales of the two key models, the firm said.

The auto firm also recorded the second-highest sales of 257,345 units, up 12 percent on-year in 2016. A total of 111,101 units were sold in the domestic market, while 146,244 were exported overseas, the company said.

Renault Samsung Motors’ midsize sedan SM6 was crowned the car of the year for the second consecutive year, and given the design of the year award by the Korea Automobile Journalist Association earlier this month.

The conference took place at a time when Park faces charges over his alleged involvement in the Volkswagen emission scandal for fabricating official emission results. He was CEO of Volkswagen Korea from 2005-2013.

By Kim Bo-gyung (lisakim425@heraldcorp.com)