Maruti Suzuki to suspend its exports to Europe for 15 months

Maruti Suzuki has decided to stop exporting to its largest international market, Europe, for almost 15 months starting this April. This move will result into a 10 per cent drop in its total exports for the next financial year. The company is expected to resume its exports to Europe in September 2015 with a completely new model. 

Maruti Suzuki currently exports the A-Star to some European markets. While the production of this small hatch has been stopped in the country, to make way for its new hatch, the Celerio, the Japanese car manufacturer has decided to export the A-Star’s replacement from its Thailand facility. The reason being that the Thailand factory will produce the Euro 5 model that is needed as per Europeans regulations, instead of the Euro 4 model being manufactured in India. 

“With the Celerio exports happening out of Thailand, there will be a small hit in FY15, but we will try to make up with expansion of exports to other regions," said a source to Financial Express.