Suzuki: 70 years of production, from petrol to pure-electric

It’s fascinating to reflect on the beginnings of Suzuki’s first electric car, e Vitara. Michio Suzuki delivered his first production vehicle, the Suzulight, personally to a doctor in 1955 who was previously making house calls by bicycle.

Michio Suzuki began his business in March 1920, with the production of textile looms. Suzuki began to diversify its business after the global cotton industry declined. It introduced its first motorcycle in 1952 and then the first automobile two years later.  

Suzulight was first developed in 1937 but had to be put on hold due to the outbreak of World War II. Suzuki Motor Co Limited, formed in 1954 was the company that brought this development back to life. 

Michio Suzuki started researching cars produced abroad and accumulated a vast amount of information. Suzulight is a compact car that measures less than 3 metres long and weighs just over 500kg. It was powered by 360cc, two-cylinder, two stroke engine with 15PS. This car was the first in Japan that featured a Front Wheel Drive/Front engine layout. The car was ahead of its times with its independent coil spring suspension, rack and pinion steer and front engine layout.

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. Its prototype was most memorable for a 300km drive across the Hakone region, between Hamamatsu & Tokyo. This trip proved to be very difficult on unpaved roads. 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 stayed late to greet his team and went to the test track to fully evaluate the car. After a few more hours, he was still very impressed. Suzuki received his approval immediately to begin production. The production began in October 1955, initially producing 3-4 cars a month. By early 1956 the monthly production volume was 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.