Maruti jacks up car export target<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, New Delhi<\/p>\n
India's largest carmaker, Maruti Udyog Ltd., Sunday said it hopes
\nto sell 20,000 units of its latest model abroad this fiscal year,
\nraising the annual export target by 50 percent.<\/p>\n
Maruti managing director Jagdish Khattar said the company, in
\nwhich previously the Indian government and Japan's Suzuki Motor
\nCorp. held equal equity, has since the beginning of March begun
\nshipping 16,000 Alto cars worth US$80 million to European
\nmarkets.<\/p>\n
\"We are targeting an increase of more than 50 percent in
\nexports this fiscal year due to the success of Alto abroad,\"
\nKhattar told the Press Trust of India in an interview.<\/p>\n
Altos tagged for overseas markets will have extra features
\nsuch as anti-lock brakes and airbags in line with European
\nregulations, he said.<\/p>\n
Maruti's Alto exports rose 41.7 percent in the first quarter
\nof the current financial year, up to 3,377 units from 2,382 a
\nyear previously, Khattar said.<\/p>\n
\"Maruti has confirmed orders for Alto from new markets in
\nGermany, the Netherlands and Italy,\" he said, adding: \"We are
\n(now) targeting to sell 20,000 Alto cars in the foreign markets
\nthis year.\"<\/p>\n
Alto is a compromise between the company's best-selling 800cc
\nMaruti runaround and the medium-range Zen, which is priced above
\n300,000 rupees ($6,250) a unit.<\/p>\n
Khattar admitted the flagging sales of Zen in the face of
\noncoming competition in that range, which has triggered a glut in
\nthe Indian automobile market.<\/p>\n
Maruti last month announced a net profit of 1.1 billion rupees
\n($21 million) in the year to March, double its unaudited results
\nposted earlier.<\/p>\n
In the previous year, Maruti posted a loss of $2.6 billion on
\nsales of 92.53 billion rupees.<\/p>\n
On May 15, the Indian government said it would dilute its
\nstake in Maruti Udyog to 45.8 percent from 50 percent to
\nkickstart its privatization program.<\/p>\n
Suzuki bought new shares in Maruti to boost its stake in the
\njoint venture from 50 percent and agreed to pay the Indian
\ngovernment 10 billion rupees as a premium for control of the
\ncompany.<\/p>\n
The government will initially lower its equity to 25 percent
\nby March next year and the rest will be divested in 2004.<\/p>\n
Maruti commands the lion's share of the Indian market despite
\nthe entry of several global auto giants such as Hyundai, Ford,
\nDaewoo, Fiat and General Motors.<\/p>\n
But its market share has fallen to 60 percent from more than
\n90 percent in the early 1990s, when India opened its car sector
\nafter market reforms. The auto sector was previously dominated by
\nantiquated versions of British car models and Italy's Fiat.<\/p>",
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