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Michio Suzuki, the founder of the Suzuki company, began his company as the Suzuki Loom Works which produced automated looms in 1909 in a small seacoast village called Hamamatsu. Originally dedicated to building weaving looms for the silk industry and producing looms for export. By 1920, however, the company became incorporated as the Suzuki Loom Manufacturing Company. In 1937, Suzuki began developing a passenger car prototype. Unlike Toyota, who chose to copy an American six-cylinder engine, Suzuki created their own model, a four-cylinder version which put out 13 horsepower. During WWII, Suzuki’s auto manufacturing was converted to the production of armaments and, as a result, Suzuki’s factories and offices were heavily damaged due to bombardment.
During the 50s Suzuki released several models: in 1955 the Suzulight SS, a-2 door sedan, the Suzulight SD, a 2-door wagon, the SL – a 3 door sedan and the SP, a pick-up. Out of all of them, the SP proved to be the most successful, being mass-produced and improved during the 60s. Good sales for the SP which was regarded as a commercial type of vehicle, meant that in 1960 the Suzulight Van, the TL, was introduced. Other models from the 60s include the small Suzuki Fronte 360 and the Suzuki Fronte 500.
In 1963 Suzuki established the U.S. Suzuki Motor Corp. with its headquarters located in Los Angeles, California. Shortly after, Suzuki introduced the Fronte 800 which would be a subcompact passenger vehicle running a three-cylinder 785cc two-stroke engine. In 1967 Suzuki Motor Corp built its first assembly plant outside of Japan in Thailand. A scant year later Suzuki debuted the Carry Van 360 which was based on the Suzulight Carry. With the purchase of the Hope Motor Company, Suzuki acquired the engineering know-how to produce 4-wheel drive vehicles which resulted in the famous off-road Jimny came in 1970, which had several variations of chassis and engine. Other Suzuki cars of note from the 1970s are the Cervo, Alto and the Fronte, also with a number of variations and improvements along the years.
As the 80s rolled in, Suzuki began expanding across the ocean, thanks to a business agreement with GM (in 1981) which gave them an important niche in the North American and European markets. Also, they began a partnership with the Indian car company Maruti in 1983 to produce cars there. A year later, in 1984, Suzuki Motor GmbH Deutchland opened up its doors in Heppenheim, Germany. The Swift and the Vitara models were introduced in the late 80s and Suzuki reached a production of 10 million units. During the 90s, the company continued to expand with factories all over the world and several other 4x4 models were introduced. At present, Suzuki is listed as being the 12th biggest automotive manufacturer in the world with 35 production facilities in 192 countries, despite having pulled out of production of passenger vehicles in the US.