Suzuki: By Your Side
Michio Suzuki was born in 1887, and founded the Suzuki Loom Works in 1909, and was located in the small seacoast village of Hamamatsu in Japan. Business boomed as he continued to produce looms for the giant silk industry, and in 1929 Michio invented a new type of weaving machine. It was exported overseas, and the company’s first 30 years were focused on the development and production of looms.
Michio Suzuki Bust at Suzuki Museum, Hamamatsu, Japan | Photo Credit: Wikipedia
Michio believed his company would benefit from diversification, and based on consumer demand, decided that building a small car was the best investment. He began the project in 1937, and completed several compact prototypes in just two years. These first Suzuki cars were powered by a four-stroke, four-cylinder, liquid-cooled engine that was innovative, at the time. It had a cast aluminum crankcase and gearbox, and generated 13 HP with less that 800cc of displacement.
1909 Suzuki Loom | Photo Credit: Suzuki Canada
Suzuki cars were deemed a “non-essential commodity” during World War II, and production came to a halt. After the war concluded, Michio went back to producing looms. It was good timing, as the US government had recently approved shipping cotton to Japan, which created a boost in orders from local fabric manufacturers.
1985 Suzuki GSX-R750 and 1989 GSX-R750R | Photo Credit: Wikipedia
A cotton market collapse in 1951 triggered Michio to make a massive change; a return to motor vehicles, as the need for affordable, reliable transportation had skyrocketed after the war. A popular product on the market was a “clip-on” gas powered engine that could be attached to most common bicycles. The company’s first two-wheeled vehicle was a bicycle called “the Power Free” that came with a fitted motor, was designed to be inexpensive, simple to build, and easy to maintain. The 1952 model had a 36cc, 1 HP, two-stroke engine and a new double-sprocket gear system, that enabled the rider to either pedal with engine assist, without engine assist, or solely on the engine.
1952 Power-Free | Photo Credit: Suzuki Canada
By 1954, Suzuki was producing 6,000 motorcycles every month, and had officially taken on the name Suzuki Motor Co., Ltd. Spurred by the success of his motorcycles, Michio created a new car: the 1955 Suzuki Suzulight. It came with front wheel drive, four wheel independent suspension, and rack-and-pinion steering, all of which were not commonplace on cars for three more decades.
1955 Suzulight | Photo Credit: Wikipedia
In the early 1980s, Suzuki played a large role in setting up the first largely foreign owned car company, Maruti Suzuki in India. Though initially with only 26% stake in the company and the majority ownership being the Indian government, Suzuki obtained more shares in 2003, and then became majority shareholders in 2007. Volkswagen held a 19.9% non-controlling share of Suzuki from 2009 to 2015, until Suzuki accused Volkswagen of not sharing technology that was promised, while Volkswagen objected to a deal that involved Suzuki buying diesel engines from Fiat. After an international arbitration, the court ordered Volkswagen to sell their shares back to Suzuki, who paid $3.8 billion to complete the buyback in September of 2015. Meanwhile, in November of 2012, low sales forced Suzuki to close its US branches.
Maruti Suzuki | Photo Credit: Telegraph India
Following the buyback, Suzuki has faced some turbulence. In 2016, the company was fined $2,054,924 by the EPS for falsifying MOx emission levels in their vehicles, and withdrew from China in September of 2018. In August of 2019, Toyota announced a share ‘trade’ with Suzuki, with Toyota having a 4.9% stake in Suzuki, while Suzuki would get a 0.2% stake in Toyota.
Suzuki Jimny LJ10 | Photo Credit: Wikipedia