Suzuki Motor Corporation is celebrating its centenary anniversary this month taking a trip down memory lane highlighting the key milestones in history that began 100 years ago. What started as a modest loom workshop weaving cloth grew into one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world and quite simply the largest in India. What started as bicycles with engines mounted on the frame went on to become the fastest production motorcycle in 1999 – we’ve all known and adored the Hayabusa. On this occasion, allow us to bring you what Suzuki is today and how it got there.
Headquartered in Minami-Ku, Hamamatsu, Japan Suzuki Motor Corporation today manufactures cars, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), marine engines, wheelchairs, and other internal combustion engines. Suzuki has over 45,000 employees and has 35 production facilities in 23 countries and 133 distributors in 192 countries. Suzuki’s domestic motorcycle sales volume is the third-largest in Japan.
To mark the occasion, Suzuki has revealed its 100th-anniversary logo which it says has a unique shape of “0” that expresses the 100 years of Suzuki, while also highlighting that the company will continue ∞ (infinitely). It is also a motif of tyres, which represent mobility. The three lines that follow the tyres express the feeling of driving, as well as each product of motorcycle, automobile, and outboard motor.
Suzuki also opened a 100th-anniversary special website on 15 March 2020. Information related to the 100th anniversary will be updated from time to time on the site.
And now about the key happenings that brought Suzuki to where it is today:
1909 Oct. – Michio Suzuki found Suzuki Loom Works in the present-day Hamamatsu, Shizuoka.
1920 Mar. – The company is reorganized, incorporated, and capitalized at ¥500,000 as Suzuki Loom Manufacturing Co. with Michio Suzuki as President.
1947 May – Suzuki moves its head office to the present address.
1952 June – Suzuki enters the motor-vehicle field with the launch of the Power Free 36cc, a 2-stroke auxiliary bicycle engine.
1954 June – Company changes its name to Suzuki Motor Co., Ltd.
1955 Oct. – Suzulight 360cc, 2-stroke mini-vehicle debuts, helping to usher in Japan’s mini-vehicle age.
1961 Aug. – First export of motorcycles to Taiwan under the knock-down system.
1962 June – Suzuki wins the 50cc-class championship in the Isle of Man TT race.
1965 Apr. – Suzuki enters the outboard motor field with the launch of a D55 5.5-horsepower, 2-stroke outboard motor.
1967 Mar. – Thai Suzuki Motor Co., Ltd. is established for assembly in Thailand (first motorcycle plant outside Japan).
Also read: Maruti Suzuki Futuro-e: Signalling a big transition of India’s largest carmaker
Apr. – Jimny 360cc, 2-stroke mini 4×4 vehicle debuts.
1974 Apr. – Suzuki enters the medical equipment field with the launch of the Motor Chair Z600 motorized wheelchair.
1975 May – Suzuki begins its first overseas car production with the assembly of the Jimny 4×4 car in Pakistan.
1979 May – Alto 550cc, 2-stroke mini-vehicle debuts.
1982 Apr. – Suzuki and the Indian Government sign a basic agreement on the joint production of Suzuki cars.
1983 Dec. – Production of Suzuki cars begins at Maruti Udyog Ltd. in India.
1993 Sept. – Wagon R (660cc) mini-vehicle debuts.
2002 May – Suzuki gains a majority stake in Indian automaker Maruti Udyog Ltd.
2007 July – Suzuki changes the name of its Indian subsidiary to Maruti Suzuki.
2017 Feb. – Gujarat plant in India starts operation.
2019 Aug. – Toyota and Suzuki enter into a capital alliance agreement.
