Maruti Suzuki India is planning to launch its prime hatchback Baleno in new markets

Maruti Suzuki India is planning to launch its prime hatchback Baleno in new markets including Carribean Islands and South Africa, in a few months. The launch is planned in order to export the model to more than 100 nations.

The car, which has already crossed the milestone of 1 lakh sales in the domestic market, will also be shipped to countries in Latin America, Middle East and South East Asia.

"In following months it (Baleno) will be launched in Caribbean Islands, Uruguay, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, Peru, South Africa, Indonesia, Middle East countries like UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia," a company spokesperson told.

MSI currently exports the car to France, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Chile, Israel, England, Nepal, Bhutan, Austria and Australia. Till date around 38,000 units of the model have been dispatched to these destinations.

Baleno is the first product from the MSI portfolio to be exported to Japan where its parent company Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) is based. The company and its supplier partners have invested Rs 1,060 crore in the development of Baleno, which is being manufactured at the company's Manesar plant.

MSI had launched Baleno in India on October 26 last year.