Car Review |
Suzuki |
Suzuki or Suzuki Motor Corporation is a
Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Hamamatsu, Japan that specializes in manufacturing compact automobiles and
4x4 vehicles, a full range of motorcycles,
all-terrain vehicles (
ATVs), outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a variety of other small internal combustion engines.
Suzuki is Japan's 4th largest
automobile manufacturer after
Toyota,
Nissan,
Honda and the 9th largest
automobile manufacturer in the world by production volume, employs over 45,000 people, has 35 main production facilities in 23 countries and 133 distributors in 192 countries.According to statistics from the
Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (
JAMA),
Suzuki is Japan's second-largest manufacturer of small
cars and
trucks.
In 1909,
Michio Suzuki (1887–1982) founded the
Suzuki LoomWorks in the small seacoast village of Hamamatsu,
Japan. Business boomed as
Suzuki built weaving looms for Japan's giant silk industry. In 1929, Michio
Suzuki invented a new type of weaving machine, which was exported overseas.
Suzuki filed as many as 120 patents and utility model rights.The company's first 30 years focused on the development and production of these exceptionally complex
machines.
Despite the success of his looms,
Suzuki realized his company had to diversify and he began to look at other
products.Based on consumer demand, he decided that building a small
car would be the most practical new venture. The project began in 1937, and within two years
Suzuki had completed several compact prototype
cars.These first
Suzuki motor vehicles were powered by a then-innovative, liquid-cooled, four-stroke, four-cylinder engine. It featured a cast aluminum crankcase and gearbox and generated 13 horsepower (9.7 kW) from a displacement of less than 800cc.
With the onset of World War II, production plans for
Suzuki's new vehicles were halted when the government declared civilian passenger
cars a "non-essential commodity."At the conclusion of the war,
Suzuki went back to producing looms. Loom production was given a boost when
the U.S. government approved the shipping of cotton to Japan.
Suzuki's fortunes brightened as orders began to increase from domestic textile manufacturers.But the joy was short-lived as the cotton market collapsed in 1951.
Faced with this colossal challenge,
Suzuki's thoughts went back to
motor vehicles. After the war, the Japanese had a great need for affordable, reliable personal transportation.A number of firms began offering "clip-on" gas-powered engines that could be attached to the typical bicycle.
Suzuki's first two-wheel ingenuity came in the form of a motorized bicycle called, the "Power Free."Designed to be inexpensive and simple to build and maintain, the 1952.Power Free featured a 36 cc, one horsepower,
two-stroke engine. An unprecedented feature was the
double-sprocket gear system, enabling the rider to either pedal with the engine assisting, pedal without engine assist, or simply disconnect the pedals and run on engine power alone.The system was so ingenious that the patent office of the new democratic government granted
Suzuki a financial subsidy to continue research in motorcycle engineering, and so was born
Suzuki Motor Corporation.
In 1953,
Suzuki scored the first of many racing victories when the tiny 60 cc "Diamond Free" won its class in the Mount Fuji Hill Climb.
By 1954, Suzuki was producing 6,000 motorcycles per month and had officially changed its name to Suzuki Motor Co., Ltd.Following the success of its first motorcycles, Suzuki created an even more successful automobile: the 1955 Suzuki Suzulight. Suzuki showcased its penchant for innovation from the beginning. The Suzulight included front-wheel drive, four-wheel independent suspension and rack-and-pinion steering—features common on cars half a century later. - Car Review
