RACING AHEAD

New Delhi, Feb. 20: Maruti Suzuki India will cross the five-lakh export mark later this month.

On a cumulative basis, the company has exported over 4,97,000 cars till the end of January. It is set to export more than 4,000 units this month. The car maker sold 7,10,531 vehicles in the domestic market and exported 52,203 units last year.

Maruti, which manufactures nearly half of the passenger cars in India, exports its vehicles to five continents. Europe, the company’s most important destination, accounts for 56 per cent of its cumulative exports.

The company exported 67,700 units to the Netherlands, more than 41,000 to Italy and over 34,000 to the UK. Germany and Hungary have imported over 20,000 Maruti cars.

Among the non-European markets, Algeria is the biggest buyer with over 42,000 units, followed by Chile, Sri Lanka and Nepal. The company’s flagship model, the Maruti 800, has been the most popular Indian car in foreign markets, selling a total of 1,78,000 units. Its other hatchback models, the Alto and the Zen, sold 152,000 and 1,30,000 units, respectively.

Maruti Suzuki began exporting cars in 1986 to neighbouring countries. Its first major consignment was shipment of 500 Maruti 800s to Hungary in 1987-88.

“Despite high domestic demand, the focus on exports is to enable the company to continuously match international standards in quality and productivity,” a senior company official said.

“As cars for the export market are manufactured on the same assembly line as cars for the domestic market, the company has been able to offer high quality products to domestic customers,” he added.

Maruti expects to export 50,000 units this fiscal, a 27 per cent growth rate over last year.