Suzuki’s 70 years of production from petrol to pure electric

This Autumn, as Suzuki gets ready to launch e Vitara, it’s very first electric vehicle, it’s interesting to look back to where it all began 70 years ago. Back in the Autumn of 1955, Michio Suzuki personally delivered a Suzulight, his very first production car, to a local doctor who had previously been conducting his house calls on a bicycle.

Although Michio Suzuki had first started in business much earlier than that in March 1920 with the manufacture of textile looms. When there was a global decline in the cotton industry; Suzuki then diversified into motorised transport with introduction of its first motorcycle in 1953 and the first car followed two years later.  

Initial research and development of Suzulight began as far back as 1937 although this had to be shelved later with the outbreak of the second World War. This development finally resumed in 1954 when Suzuki Motor Co Limited was formed. 

Michio Suzuki quickly began researching vehicles produced overseas and gained a wealth of knowledge. Suzulight was compact measuring less than three metres in length and weighing just over 500kg. It was powered by a 360cc, 15PS two cylinder, two-stroke engine and the first car in Japan to feature a Front Wheel Drive / Front engine layout. It was ahead of its time with independent coil spring suspension and rack and pinion steering.

Suzulight easily met the Japanese ‘Keijidosha’ or Kei light car legislation and Suzuki and his team quickly began their first development road testing of it. As a prototype, its most memorable early drive was a 300km trip across the Hakone mountainous region between Hamamatsu and Tokyo which proved very challenging on roads that had not yet been paved. Although arriving very late in the evening, the team arrived to present the car to the President of ‘Yanase Auto’ Japan’s leading authority on Automobiles.

The President had stayed on late to greet the team and made his way out to thoroughly test the car. Several hours later he returned very impressed and immediately gave Suzuki full approval to put the Suzulight into production. Production commenced in October 1955 with initial production of 3-4 cars per month but by early 1956 monthly volume had climbed to 30 units.

70 years on, Suzuki is renowned as the ‘small car experts’ and produces well over three million units per year with a projection of four million units annually by 2030.

Words by Mark Slack