When Maruti Suzuki paraded the Alto, replacing the once flagship M800, the company would not have expected the fortune to favor. After pressing the BS IV norms, the company was not in a mood to focus on this car, but the current demand in export market raised many eyebrows in the company. During the period of April-August 2010, Maruti was able to meet an export chunk of 4435 units, indicating a rise of 91.49% which was just 2316 units in the same period of 2009, said SIAM. During August alone, it stood as 1075 units which was just 236 units in August 2009, making a massive 355.5% increase. Maruti’s M800 is exported to Chile, Algeria and Egypt.
This trend is a reversal compared to the domestic market, where Maruti had got just 10505 units during the same period, which was 12649 units in the corresponding period of 2009. The domestic market saw M800 moving downward with the sale of 1919 units in August alone compared to 2734 units in August 2009, showing a fall of 29.8%. however, the fall in domestic market is attributed to the phasing out in 13 cities, following the BS IV norms. Maruti was not in a position to upgrade the model for these cities as a matter of business proposition, said its Chairman. He disclosed that the company did not concentrate much on export segment which constitutes a small volume. In the automobile field, Maruti has been there for over 26 years with sale volume of 28 lakh units, with 25lakhs units comprising the domestic market. The company could produce 840 cars at the time of the initial year of its operations in India. currently, with the phasing out of M800, the company is selling 2000 units per month in the country alone.