Car major Maruti Udyog is targeting a production of around 456,000 units during the current financial year, beating last year's production of close to 370,000 units by almost a quarter.

The company has already produced around 320,000 vehicles in the year to December, before the Gurgaon plant was shutdown for a week-long annual maintenance, senior company executives said.

The production losses on account of the two-month strike at DCM Engineering, a key supplier, has more-or-less been compensated, and the company is now looking forward to a major demand pull during the last quarter, they said.

The massive jump in the company's production this year is a result of a significant 25 per cent growth in car sales in the domestic market and an increase in exports.

Exports were curtailed during the months of the DCM Engineering strike, to balance the demand supply gap in the domestic market.

Of the 450,000 units that the company hopes to sell this year, around 40,000 units will be exported, while the balance will be sold in the domestic market.

"We have had a dream run so far. And we expect sales to continue to be high in January-March. Normally, the last quarter fetches high volumes -- almost 1.5 times of average quarter sales. This year, our market feedback is that sales will continue to be high. We will be able to sell at least 120,000 cars in the domestic market during the period," the executives said.

Maruti has three production units at Gurgaon in Haryana, with a total installed capacity of 350,000 vehicles.

However, the company, through productivity improvement initiatives, is capable of producing 500,000 vehicles with its existing facilities.

The company has been decreasing manpower through voluntary retirement schemes to raise its productivity.

Last year, the car maker had a 50.8 per cent share of the domestic car market. It sold 362,426 vehicles in the past year.