MUMBAI, February 23, 2010 (AFP) – India’s biggest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India announced Tuesday it has recalled 100,000 of its best-selling A-Star hatchback cars due to a fuel leakage problem

Maruti, majority owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp, said it launched the recall last November to fix the fault. The A-Star cars are being recalled both locally and internationally, mainly in Europe, as a "proactive" step, the company said in a statement.

"We decided to check all vehicles from the lot, around 100,000 units including those exported overseas," the company said.

Maruti shares fell 3.24 percent or 44.8 rupees to 1,336.85 on the back of the announcement.

It comes as Japanese competitor Toyota Motor Corp has recalled more than eight million vehicles globally due to accelerator and brake problems and faces class-action lawsuits.

The five-door A-Star is part of Maruti Suzuki’s "global" car lineup. It is exported to such European countries as Germany, France and Britain.

"We came across an anomaly reported in the fuel tank in some of the vehicles in November last year and contacted customers through letters," the company said.

"No problem has been reported by customers."

The recall covers those A-Stars made between November 2008 and August 2009.

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