India’s top car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India Ltd is all set to unveil its ‘A-star’ model in the local market by the next month (October 2008).

A senior company official said that the company will begin exports by December 2008.

It is also learnt that initially, the car will be exported to the European markets.

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd has also decided to increase local research and development (R&D) for small cars to 90%.

Moreover, the company recorded a 9.2 percent decline in August sales amid a depressive economy, growing interest rates and tighter lending standards.

During August 2008, Maruti sold 59,908 vehicles, as against 65,968 vehicles sold during the same period of the last year (August 2007).

Maruti is 54.2 percent owned by Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp and covers about half of the Indian car market, with models including the best-selling Alto and Swift hatchbacks.

At 12:39 am, shares of Maruti Suzuki stood at Rs 683.90, up 2.9%, on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 59.05 and 11.55 respectively. The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 1252 and a low of Rs 474.90 on BSE.