Maruti Suzuki lost its coveted second slot in the lucrative car exports, 10 years after it ceded the crown to South Korean, Hyundai Motors as it grapples with intensified competition in overseas markets.

In the new pecking order, Nissan Motors India has moved ahead of Maruti Suzuki in terms of export numbers as its current models Mirca and the Sunny sedan outsell Maruti's list of top seller like A-Star, Alto and DZire.

Nissan India increased its export numbers by shipping 18% additional cars in the last financial year to take its tally to 1.16 lakh units, while Maruti Suzuki lost 16% in overseas sales to end the fiscal at 1.01 lakh cars sent out of India.

Hyundai Motor India managed to remain its top exporter tag by shipping 2.33 lakh cars in the last fiscal year, more cars the total tally of Nissan and Maruti Suzuki put together.

"Hyundai has established India market as the major export hub and a centre of excellence for compact cars. We have been the largest exporter from India for the past decade and have been sending 'made in India' cars to over 120 countries. India serves as the major source for models like Eon, Santro, i10, Grand, Accent and i20 and serves as a major production base out of the seven plants Hyundai operates out of South Korea," said Rakesh Srivastava senior vice president (marketing & sales) of Hyundai Motor India.

Maruti Suzuki loses No 2 slot to Nissan in car exports; Hyundai still numero uno

Nissan is not just setting on the laurels, but aiming to enhance its presence over the next couple of years. The company that started exports just four years back is planning to add its recently launched low-cost Datsun brand to complement Nissan badged cars from India.
Apart from completely built cars, top Nissan India executives said that exports of car parts and completely knocked down kits to African and European markets would be a key strategy for the future. Nissan currently exports 85% of its total production from its Chennai plant and its domestic sales are less than half of the total exports from India.

Country's top carmaker Maruti Suzuki is guided by its parent Suzuki Motor Corp. challenges in exports are likely to be intensified as its biggest market Europe would now be fed from Thailand subsidiary and it would focus on emerging markets only.

"We would now be concentrating in Middle East, Africa and the South East Asian markets for exports. We have recently started producing the left hand drive variants of our popular models like Swift, DZire and Ertiga MPV to tap these new geographies," a senior executive said.

Source:- economictimes.indiatimes.com