Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.

The country's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India expects to double its exports to about 1.6 lakh units this fiscal, while it is aiming over 20 per cent growth in its overall sales. Last fiscal it exported 80,000 units, thereby expecting 100 per cent growth in export this fiscal.

The company's overseas sales growth was driven mainly by the export of its flagship model A-Star, which clocked sales of over one lakh units till December 2010, within 11 months of launch. MSI aims to cross the two lakh units of exports by 2010-11.

The A-star, which is produced only in the company's Manesar facility, is exported primarily to Europe and other countries such Chile, Angola, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Algeria and the UAE, where it is sold as Suzuki Celerio. It also contract manufactures the model for Japanese car major Nissan, which sells it in the European market as Pixo.

Recently, MSI had kick-started exporting its latest model Ritz to South East Asia as well to expand its export portfolio, besides exploring the Middle East market. During this fiscal, sales have been growing at about 20-22 per cent this fiscal and the company expects this to continue for the last quarter as well.