 "Maruti Baleno | Photo: Kamlesh Pednekar")
The Country's largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki has received over 4,600 bookings of its recently launched premium hatchback Baleno, a top company official said on Wednesday. The company re-introduced Baleno two days ago in New Delhi, aiming to garner a significant market share in the premium hatchback segment. The car would compete with Hyundai Motor India's Elite i20 and Jazz from Honda cars in India.
“We have been receiving overwhelming bookings ahead of its national launch. On the day of the launch, over 1,500 visitors visited our showrooms and 600 of them booked, while on the second day, 3,500 visited the showrooms and 1,200 booked. Total booking figures will be over 4,600," Maruti Suzuki India Executive Director (Marketing and Sales), R S Kalsi told reporters.
Stating that Baleno would be exported to 100 countries, he said, "we hope to achieve leadership market share in the premium hatchback segment". Kalsi said that in 2014, the premium hatchback segment comprised of 5.20 lakh units and registered a 22 per cent growth.
"We have invested about Rs 1,060 crore in this project (manufacturing of Baleno). We will be making exports to 100 overseas locations including Europe, Japan, South America in 2016," he said.
Asked about the sales of S-Cross which was launched three months ago by Maruti Suzuki, he said the company has sold 12,000 units so far.
Maruti Suzuki India currently has two manufacturing facilities, with a total capacity of 15 lakh units. The third facility is coming up in Gujarat and is expected to go on stream by mid-2017, he added.
Baleno was introduced as a premium sedan few years back, but due to poor sales, its production was stopped.
