This comes as a fillip to the Centre's 'Make in India' initiative. Country's top car-maker Maruti Suzuki India Tuesday said it had started exporting its SUV model, the Fronx, to Japan. According to a statement from the company, the first shipment comprising more than 1,600 vehicles left from the Pipavav Port in Gujarat.
For the first time ever, Maruti Suzuki has entered Japanese shores with an SUV. Successor to the export of Baleno in 2016 comes Fronx as the second model from stables of India's biggest automobile maker by four-wheeler sales in Japan. Maruti Suzuki manufactures the Fronx at its Gujarat-based plant.
Parent company Suzuki Motor Corporation will bring the Fronx to Japan during autumn 2024.
It was launched in the Indian market during the second quarter of 2023. Exports to Latin America, Middle East, and Africa started in July 2023.
"볼 Proudly, we are entering the Japanese market with the Fronx," he said. Mr. Hisashi Takeuchi Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer Maruti Suzuki India Limited. Our 'Made-in-India' Fronx will soon be seen on Japanese roads. Japan is one of the most discerning and technology-demanding automobile markets in the world. The shipment to Japan will showcase the capability of Maruti Suzuki to produce a world-class vehicle with state-of-the-art technology, brilliant performance, and globally accepted safety and quality standards. Indeed, this has shown our intense commitment toward excellence.
Takeuchi further said, "The Fronx epitomizes the best of engineering and design and truly showcases Indian automotive manufacturing capability. I am quite confident it would be received well in Japan."
According to the SIAM report, Maruti Suzuki exported over 280,000 units to more than 100 countries during the financial year 2023-24, earning a 42 per cent market share of the country's passenger vehicle exports.
The company has dispatched a record 70,560 units in Q1 of FY 2024-25, the highest for any first quarter in its history.
Only earlier this month Maruti Suzuki reported its July 2024 sales figures at 137,463 units, down 9.6 per cent over the same month in 2023.
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