The country's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India, today said it expects to double its

RELATED ARTICLES Maruti Suzuki parts’ supplier hit by strike Maruti recalls 100,000 A-Stars on tank defect Maruti recalls 1 lakh 'A-Star' to replace fuel pump part

exports to about 1.6 lakh units this fiscal, while it is aiming over 20 per cent growth in its overall sales.

"Last fiscal we exported 80,000 units. We are expecting 100 per cent growth in export this fiscal," Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Executive Officer Marketing and Sales Mayank Pareekh told reporters on the sidelines of an AIMA event here.

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.

Commenting on the overall sales growth of the company, 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 and overall for the entire fiscal we expect this level of growth."