15703
Maruti Suzuki exports one-millionth car
Posted on 
Indian passenger car giant Maruti Suzuki has exported its 1 millionth vehicle, an A-Star, to Denmark. It has also reached the milestone of exporting 1 lakh vehicles to a single nation
Indian passenger car market leader Maruti Suzuki has exported its 1 millionth vehicle, a bright red A-Star on the last day of April 2012. The A-Star departed from the Indian coastline to Denmark, where it is sold as a Suzuki Alto. The A-Star is the seventh generation Suzuki Alto, while the Maruti Suzuki Alto in India is the sixth generation avatar.
The A-Star left Indian soil with 2,200 other vehicles manufactured in India that will be sold across Algeria, Denmark, Egypt, Malta, Morocco, Sweden and Switzerland. The A-star is rebadged and sold as the Nissan Pixo in the UK.
The A-star has emerged as the most popular Maruti Suzuki vehicle to be exported. Since its exports began in January 2009, over 3,00,000 units have been exported to over 100 countries. In cumulative sales, the A-star is followed by the Alto with over 2,50,000 units and the Maruti 800 with 2,26,000 units being sold.
Shinzo Nakanishi, Managing Director & CEO, Maruti Suzuki India Limited commented, “A million cars in overseas markets is a significant milestone for us. Two years back, Europe was a strong destination for us. We have aligned our exports strategy in line with the changed scenario in exports market. The market for us has shifted significantly from Europe to non-European countries. While the A-Star, marketed under ‘Suzuki Alto’ and ‘Suzuki Celerio’ badge in international markets was doing well, we also worked on identifying alternate non-European markets. This strategy worked in our favour and helped us retain our export numbers after European nations withdrew the scrappage incentives. We are happy that cars manufactured at Maruti Suzuki India have found good customer acceptance in overseas markets.”
The above-mentioned shipment of vehicles will also make Algeria achieve a milestone of being the only country until now to import 1 lakh units from Maruti Suzuki. Of the total 2,200 vehicles shipped out, 1,500 are bound for the Algerian market.
In 2009-10, Maruti Suzuki exported over 1.47 lakh units, of which over 75 per cent were sent to Europe. By 2011-12, the exports figures for non-European Union countries shot up from 23 per cent to 66 per cent.
Over 125 countries across five continents have cars manufactured by Maruti Suzuki plying on their roads. Maruti Suzuki intends to expand its presence to new markets including the ASEAN region.
Do you like this story?
- Previous Story
- Next Story
Readers' opinions ( 1 )
Post a Comment
Post a Comment-
Prof.Vijay Karmarkar,SIRT
Very very useful article. Our MBA students always benefit from such latest industry news on your site. Thanks a lot. Please keep it up.
Bigger the better for first-time car buyers in India
by TNN Photography: Kunal Khadse
As customer preferences change, first-time car...
Maruti Ertiga Feliz special edition to launch soon
by Ajit Menon
An anniversary edition of the Ertiga MPV sporting...
Chevrolet Enjoy : Special Coverage
Designed to take on everything from the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga to the Toyota Innova the Enjoy is...
Volkswagen XL1 : Special Coverage
The Volkswagen XL1 is a production ready technological masterpiece that showcases how efficient yet...
