Even as the first lot of 1,760 manufactured-in-India, right-hand-drive, petrol-engined, automatic export model Baleno hatchbacks are being unloaded at the Toyohashi Port in Japan, Autocar Professional learns that six European countries – Germany, Italy, Belgium, Poland, Slovenia and Spain – are next in queue.

A total of 854 Balenos, most of them left-hand-drive cars, have been shipped to these countries on February 9-10, all from Mundra Port, pointing to the growing importance of this Gujarat port for the carmaker. Within Europe, Germany tops the list with a total of 436 units, followed by Italy (167), Belgium (113), Poland (93), Slovenia (38) and Spain (7).

All these Europe-bound Balenos are powered by the new 1242cc DualJet, a dual-injection petrol engine which, according to Suzuki Motor Corp, has "improved thermal efficiency that strikes an excellent balance between power performance and fuel efficiency."

It is also learnt that a single diesel-engined Baleno was shipped to South Africa from Mumbai Port Trust on January 5.

The Baleno, which is a global Suzuki model solely manufactured in India, will give a fillip to Maruti Suzuki India’s export numbers. The carmaker, which plans to aggressively export the Baleno to over 100 markets worldwide, had set an initial export target of 5,000-6,000 units a month to Japan and Europe.

It may be recollected that Autocar Professional had broken the news about Maruti exporting the Balenos to Japan on October 26, 2015. 

The exclusively made-in-India Baleno was launched in New Delhi on October 26, 2015 and its Japanese specification was also showcased at the Tokyo Motor Show. With 31,573 units sold between October 2015-January 2016 in the domestic market, the Baleno has become one of the star performers for Maruti Suzuki India.