India's Maruti Suzuki launches petrol engine plant

NEW DELHI, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Maruti Suzuki (MRTI.BO), India's top car maker, on Tuesday launched a new plant that will have annual installed capacity to produce 240,000 fuel-efficient petrol engines.

Maruti said the plant was part of a 90 billion rupee ($1.8 billion) investment plan by it and its parent Suzuki Motor Corp (7269.T).

The KB series engine will be used in Maruti's A-star model.

"The new engine series is also an important step towards attaining the target sales of a million units in the domestic market by 2010/11," Managing Director Shinzo Nakanishi told reporters.

Maruti Suzuki, 54.2 percent-owned by Suzuki, has said it will launch the A-star in India in October and start exports from December or January. ($1=49 rupees) (Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by John Mair)