Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Suzuki Motor Corp., Japan's second- largest minicar-maker, will begin exporting a new India-made car to Europe next year as it aims to boost sales in the continent by about a third over the next three years.

The A-Star will first be shown at the New Delhi auto show in January, Chairman Osamu Suzuki, 77, said at a press conference in the city today. The five-door hatchback, with a 1-liter petrol engine, will start rolling off Indian assembly lines in October.

``Substantial production for Europe is targeted to start in December 2008, followed by expansion to other markets around the world,'' the company said in an e-mailed release today. The vehicle will be built by the automaker's 54 percent owned unit, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.

Suzuki, the maker of half of all cars sold in India, is boosting local production to meet demand in the world's second- fastest-growing major auto market and to export more vehicles from the country. The automaker may count on the new model to help increase annual European sales to 420,000 vehicles from 310,000 in the last business year.

The carmaker will produce 150,000 of the new cars in India annually, of which as many as 100,000 will be exported, said Jagdish Khattar, managing director of the local unit.

Suzuki has no plans to revise its 82 billion yen ($733 million) net income forecast for the year ending March 31, Osamu Suzuki said. He was responding to a question on the effects of currency movements.

Production Capacity

The company plans to raise its total production capacity in India to about 1 million vehicles by March 2010. Suzuki, based in Hamamatsu, southwest of Tokyo, said it will spend 200 billion yen on manufacturing facilities in the South Asian country.

Europe accounted for 14 percent of Suzuki's global vehicle sales in the year ended March 31.

Suzuki will also start selling its Splash family car in Europe in the spring, the chairman said.

Suzuki rose 0.3 percent to 3,470 yen at the 3 p.m. close on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Maruti rose 3.2 percent to close at 1,078.5 rupees on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

To contact the reporters on this story: Mrinalini Datta in New Delhi at mdatta1@bloomberg.net; Naoko Fujimura in Tokyo at nfujimura@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 11, 2007 06:31 EST