Nissan to sell Korean cars

Nissan announced today that it plans to sell the SM3 compact sedan car produced by Renault Samsung Motors (RSM) in Korea in markets around the world starting next year.

RSM will begin production of the new generation SM3 sedan for Nissan at its Busan plant in January 2006. RSM has been producing the SM3, originally derived from a Nissan product, for sale in the domestic Korean market under its own brand since 2002. Sales of the new SM3 began this August.

This marks the first time Nissan has sourced vehicles for export from Korea. RSM will produce up to 30,000 cars on average a year for Nissan.

The RSM SM3 sedan is derived from the Nissan N16 model - already sold around the world under various brand names including Sunny and Almera.

Several exterior and interior features on the vehicle will be changed before it is sold as a Nissan-branded product.