Samsung is much more than a mobile phone manufacturer. In South Korea, you can even buy cars from the company. The company’s latest achievement is this redesigned SM6.
In South Korea, you can search for Renaults until you weigh an ounce. Instead, you better hunt for Samsung cars. Renault Samsung Motors once started life in the mid-1990s as a partnership between Nissan and Samsung, but after Samsung put its car branch on display around the turn of the millennium, it was Renault that bought the majority of the shares and renamed the Toko to Renault Samsung Motors. The model range currently includes the SM3, the time-honored and well-known Fluence ZE, the QM6 (Koleos), the recently presented XM3 coupé SUV based on the Arkana not available here and the SM6. That SM6 is in fact the car that we know as a Talisman in Europe. The Renault D-segment was modernized earlier this year and now it is also the SM6’s turn.
One of the biggest differences with the Talisman known here is the fact that Samsung only supplies the SM6 as a sedan. So no SM6 Estate for the South Koreans. The optical changes that Samsung makes on the SM6 correspond to the novelties that emerged on the renewed Talisman. That means: slightly changed lighting on both the front and rear, new trim parts and a slightly modified interior. It should come as no surprise that the SM6 is virtually identical to the Talisman on its other logos after design.
Before the facelift, the Talisman was available in the Netherlands with 1.6 and 1.8-liter petrol engines, while the SM6 also had a blown 2.0 on the order list. That 2.0 has disappeared and the South Korean Talisman is now available with the well-known 1.3 TCe that delivers 156 hp in the SM6. Above it is the 225 hp ‘TCe 300’ baptized 1.8 TCe that also exists in the Talisman. In addition, Renault supplies a turbo-free two-liter, the 2.0 LPe. In addition to petrol, this machine also likes LPG and comes to a neat 140 hp. The TCe’s are linked to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, while the LPG machine is tied to a CVT transmission. The starting price of the SM6 with 1.3 is in South Korea at an extremely modest KRW 24,500,000, converted less than € 17,500. The 225 hp strong variant changes ownership from converted € 20,630. A world of difference with what you tick for a Talisman in the Netherlands …