Maruti Suzuki Baleno
Maruti Suzuki Balenonexa

Maruti Suzuki, the country's largest car maker which launched its new premium hatchback Baleno in India on 27 October, has announced its plans to export the new 'made in India' model to over 100 countries.

The Baleno for the first time in the history of Maruti Suzuki will also be exported to Japan, the home of its parent company Suzuki Motor Corp. The move if successful will help Maruti Suzuki to establish India as its export hub. Maruti is reportedly planning to export about 50,000 units of new Baleno in 2016

"Competition is very high in developed countries ... they have a lot of good products and under that condition we have to compete. If this product will be successful we have a chance to grow our strategy," Reuters quoted Kenichi Ayukawa, Maruti's managing director.

The Maruti Baleno, the second car to be sold through the company's new Nexa chains in India measures 3,995mm in length, 1,745mm in width and 1,500mm in height with a wheel base of 2,520mm. The car features 339-litres of boot space and 37-litres of fuel capacity.

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Under the hood, the Maruti Baleno includes 1.2-litre K-Series petrol engine and 1.3-litre DDiS diesel engine. While the 1.2-litre K-Series petrol engine is tuned to develop 83bhp and 115Nm of torque, the 1.3-litre DDiS diesel mill churns out 74bhp and 190Nm of torque.

Both the engines are mated to a five-speed manual transmission and the petrol engine is also available with CVT automatic gearbox.