Suzuki Motor Corporation is a Japanese multinational corporation that specializes in manufacturing compact automobiles, a full range of motorcycles, All-Terrain Vehicles, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a variety of other small internal combustion engines. Suzuki is the 12th 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.
Michio Suzuki founded the Suzuki Loom Company in 1909. Business soared as Suzuki built weaving looms for Japan's enormous silk industry. Michio Suzuki invented a new type of weaving machine in 1929, which Suzuki exported overseas. Suzuki filed 120 patents and utility model rights. Suziki's first 30 years focused on the development and production of these exceptionally complex textile machines.
Suzuki realized that his company had to diversify and so he began to look at other products. In 1937 he decided that building a small car would be the most practical new venture. The project was started and within two years Suzuki had completed several prototypes of small cars. The first Suzuki motor vehicles were powered by an innovative 800cc, liquid-cooled, four-stroke, four-cylinder engine. It featured a cast aluminum crankcase and gearbox and generated 13 horsepower.
World War II halted production plans for Suzuki's new vehicles and at the conclusion of the war, Suzuki went back to producing looms. Suzuki had to make another change when the cotton market collasped in 1951 and Suzuki switched back to motor vehicles. The Japanese consumer had a great need for affordable, reliable personal transportation. A number of Japanese companies began offering small gas-powered engines that could be attached to a bicycle. Suzuki's went a step further in the form of a motorized bicycle called, the "Power Free". The 1952 Power Free featured a 36 cc two-stroke engine. An unprecedented feature was the double-sprocket gear system which enabled 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 gear system was so ingenious that the Japanese patent granted Suzuki a financial subsidy to continue research in motorcycle engineering, and so was born Suzuki Motor Corporation.
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 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 that became common on automobiles 50 years later.
