Maruti jacks up car export target

Maruti jacks up car export target

Agence France-Presse, New Delhi

India's largest carmaker, Maruti Udyog Ltd., Sunday said it hopes
to sell 20,000 units of its latest model abroad this fiscal year,
raising the annual export target by 50 percent.

Maruti managing director Jagdish Khattar said the company, in
which previously the Indian government and Japan's Suzuki Motor
Corp. held equal equity, has since the beginning of March begun
shipping 16,000 Alto cars worth US$80 million to European
markets.

"We are targeting an increase of more than 50 percent in
exports this fiscal year due to the success of Alto abroad,"
Khattar told the Press Trust of India in an interview.

Altos tagged for overseas markets will have extra features
such as anti-lock brakes and airbags in line with European
regulations, he said.

Maruti's Alto exports rose 41.7 percent in the first quarter
of the current financial year, up to 3,377 units from 2,382 a
year previously, Khattar said.

"Maruti has confirmed orders for Alto from new markets in
Germany, the Netherlands and Italy," he said, adding: "We are
(now) targeting to sell 20,000 Alto cars in the foreign markets
this year."

Alto is a compromise between the company's best-selling 800cc
Maruti runaround and the medium-range Zen, which is priced above
300,000 rupees ($6,250) a unit.

Khattar admitted the flagging sales of Zen in the face of
oncoming competition in that range, which has triggered a glut in
the Indian automobile market.

Maruti last month announced a net profit of 1.1 billion rupees
($21 million) in the year to March, double its unaudited results
posted earlier.

In the previous year, Maruti posted a loss of $2.6 billion on
sales of 92.53 billion rupees.

On May 15, the Indian government said it would dilute its
stake in Maruti Udyog to 45.8 percent from 50 percent to
kickstart its privatization program.

Suzuki bought new shares in Maruti to boost its stake in the
joint venture from 50 percent and agreed to pay the Indian
government 10 billion rupees as a premium for control of the
company.

The government will initially lower its equity to 25 percent
by March next year and the rest will be divested in 2004.

Maruti commands the lion's share of the Indian market despite
the entry of several global auto giants such as Hyundai, Ford,
Daewoo, Fiat and General Motors.

But its market share has fallen to 60 percent from more than
90 percent in the early 1990s, when India opened its car sector
after market reforms. The auto sector was previously dominated by
antiquated versions of British car models and Italy's Fiat.