Maruti Suzuki India has shipped 2,000 Nissan Pixo cars from its dedicated car export port at Mundra in Gujarat to Europe.

The five-door hatchback car, which has been contract-manufactured by Maruti for Nissan’s left-hand-drive markets in Europe, is essentially a rebadged and restyled version of the Maruti A-star.

The Pixo, powered by a 1.0-litre 68bhp petrol engine, will be sold in the Netherlands and Denmark. Maruti bagged the order from Nissan to manufacture and export 30,000 Pixos in the last fiscal. Just like the A-star, the Pixo is produced at Maruti’s facility at Manesar, near Gurgaon.

Small car sales are on the up in Europe and the Pixo seems well placed to exceed the expectations of buyers there. Slotting into Nissan's supermini line-up below the Micra and Note, the Pixo arrives at European dealerships on June 1 with an on-road price tag starting from £5,995 (Rs 4.31 lakh).