Maruti Suzuki plans to take the A-Star to new markets, such as Africa and the Latin America. Maruti is looking to tap new markets for exports, as the demand is shifting towards compact cars globally. This would help Maruti meet its target of exporting 1.5 lakh cars, across all models, in the current fiscal, two times that of the year ended March 2009. Maruti exports doubled to 15,978 units in the April-May period led by A-Star.
“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,” Maruti Suzuki executive officer (marketing & sales) Mayank Pareek said.
Pitched as an export product, A-Star is already being shipped to France, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and other major markets in Europe by Maruti. Maruti had developed A-Star originally for Europe, where it is sold under various brands, such as Alto, Pixo and Celerio, in different markets. Maruti will now sell the car in Algeria, its biggest market in Africa, besides Chile, Mexico, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Nepal and around 50 other markets, where it has sales and distribution network.
