GAINING SPEED

New Delhi, Feb. 8: Maruti Suzuki India — the country’s largest car manufacturer — expects a 20 per cent growth in sales and hopes to double its exports to around 1.6 lakh units this fiscal.

“Last fiscal, we exported 80,000 units. We are expecting 100 per cent growth in exports this fiscal,” said Mayank Pareekh, executive officer (marketing and sales), Maruti.

Overseas sales growth was driven by the A-star, which clocked sales of over one lakh units till December within 11 months of its launch. The company aims to export two lakh units by 2010-11.

The A-star — manufactured at the Manesar facility — is exported primarily to Europe, Chile, Angola, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Algeria and the UAE, where it is sold as Suzuki Celerio.

The company also contract manufactures the model for Japanese car major Nissan, which sells it in Europe as the Pixo.

Maruti Suzuki has started exporting its latest model, the Ritz, to Southeast Asia, besides exploring West Asia.

On the company’s overall sales, Pareekh said, “So far, on an average, we have been growing at about 20-22 per cent this fiscal and we expect this to continue for the entire fiscal.”