India’s leading automaker Maruti Suzuki has achieved a new milestone of 2 million vehicle exports from India. The company achieved the milestone by exporting a batch of vehicles, which consisted of Vitara Brezza, S-Presso and Swift. The vehicles left for South Africa from the Mundra port in Gujarat.
Maruti Suzuki started vehicle export in FY 1986-87 with the first export batch comprising 500 vehicles. The first batch of vehicles was shipped to Hungary in September 1987. The company achieved a million export milestone in FY 2012-13. Out of 1 million, more than 50 percent of exports were made to developed European markets.
The next 1 million export milestone has been achieved in over eight years. Maruti Suzuki has focused on emerging markets such as Latin America, Africa and Asian markets. Currently, the company has sizable shares in markets such as South Africa, Chile, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
Cars such as Alto, Baleno Swift and Dzire emerged as the popular choice in the above markets.
In January 2021, Maruti Suzuki also started the production and export of Suzuki Jimny from India. India is the production hub for Jimny. Maruti Suzuki’s growth in the export of vehicles is a boost to the Make-In-India initiative.