The largest passenger car maker in India, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI), is planning to sell its latest A-Star hatchback to new markets, like Africa and the Latin America, said a top company executive. As the demand of compact cars is shifting globally, Maruti is looking to tap new markets for exports. In comparison to the year end 2009, this will help the automaker meet its target of exporting 1.5 lakh cars i.e. two times more, across all models, in the current fiscal. Doubled to 15,978 units are exported by Maruti in the April-May period led by A-Star. 

A-Star as an international export product is already shipped to France, Italy, and the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and other major markets in Europe by Maruti. “After its success in Europe and sufficient backlog of bookings, we have finalised strategy to enter other markets. A-Star comes with the new highly fuel-efficient K-series petrol engine, which is Euro-4 and Euro-5 complaint and will allow us to market the car throughout the world,” said Mayank Pareek, MSI executive officer (marketing & sales).

Originally, A-star was developed by Maruti for Europe, where it is sold under various brands, such as Alto, Pixo and Celerio, in different markets. This year company is planning to ship 70,000 A-Star cars to Europe, besides selling 30,000 units of the same model to Nissan Motor Co, which markets the product as Nissan Pixo in Europe.

Besides Chile, Mexico, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Nepal and around 50 other markets, Maruti will now sell the car in Algeria, its biggest market in Africa, where it has sales and distribution network. Exclusive small car producer and exporter for Japanese parent Suzuki Motors; Maruti has a target to export 200,000 cars a year by the year 2010-11. Maruti is developing India’s first dedicated car export terminal at Mundra in Gujarat to give an immense thrust to the export. Recently this year, Maruti has become the first domestic car maker to cross the half million export mark.

Best Selling Maruti Cars in India
Maruti SX4 (Sedan)
Maruti Gypsy (SUV)
Maruti Grand Vitara (SUV)
Maruti Omni (VAN)
Maruti Versa (VAN)
Maruti 800 (Hatchback)
Maruti Alto (Hatchback)
Maruti Zen (Hatchback)
Maruti Swift (Hatchback)
Maruti WagonR (Wagon)

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Maruti to offer cleaner fuel CNG variants of its models
Maruti to launch the all new Maruti Alto in India
Maruti Suzuki India sells total 79,872 vehicles in May 2009

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Posted by Amrith K.A on 13 June, 2009 5:27:13 PM IST #