AUTOMOTIVE
OCTOBER 29,2021
The Evolution Of Suzuki Motor Company
Let’s give a look at the evolution of Suzuki Motor company.
Suzuki was founded in October 1909 by Michio Suzuki in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan. Initially it was a weaving machine manufacturer that supplied weaving equipment to fabric manufacturers. Suzuki in English is “Bell Tree”, Suzu means”bell” and Ki is “tree”. It’s a common Japanese name.
At the time, the weaving looms business was on its pinnacle for Japan’s giant silk industry. In 1929 Suzuki invented a new type of weaving machine and exported them to overseas. But the success of this industry didn’t make Suzuki satisfied and he began to look at other products.
In 1952, Suzuki started to manufacture motor vehicles and launched the Power Free 36cc, 2 cycle motorized bicycle.By 1954, Suzuki was producing 6.000 thousand motorcycles per month and the company name officially changed to Suzuki Motor Co., Ltd.
In 1955, Suzuki launched their first successful automobile the Suzuki Suzulight (a 360 CC car with two stroke engine) but the company didn’t have an automobile division until 1961. Their first four-stroke engine was the SOHC F8A, launched in 1977.
According to wikipedia, Michio Suzuki resigned as the head of the company and became the advisor, his son Shunzo Suzuki replaced his place as the company president in 1957. In 1990, the company changed its name to Suzuki Motor Corporation.
Today, Suzuki manufactures automobile engines, motorcycles, ATVs and various small engines. In 2016 Suzuki was the eleventh biggest automaker worldwide. They have about 68.500 employees across the nations in 2020.
Their current production facilities are located in Japan, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, China, Taiwan, Hungary, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Philipinnes, Cambodia, Myanmar, United States, Brazil and Egypt.
One of the most famous model from Suzuki is the Suzuki Jimny. The name was originated from Suzuki executives during a trip to Scotland. The name was designated to be “Jimmy” but errors occurred in translation and they ended up calling it “Jimny”. The latest Jimny got sold out in Mexican market in just three days in 2021. Currently the smallest car from Suzuki on sale is the city car, Suzuki Celerio.
Between 2009 and 2015, Volkswagen had a 19.9% share in Suzuki but then Volkswagen and Suzuki did not get along each other due to some technical problems. Suzuki bought back their stock from Volkswagen in September 2015.
In August 2019, Toyota announced they would acquire a 4.9% stake in Suzuki and Suzuki received a 0.2% stake in Toyota.
Currently, Suzuki is not selling their cars in United States due to low sales volume, limited number of models and foreign exchange rates. Also the products were not distinctive enough and a sharp decline in support from General Motor (GM).
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