Suzuki History – The Birth of a Legend
I think it is essential to know exactly the roots of a legendary successful motorbike maker in order to fully grasp where this outstanding quality comes from. First of all it is Japanese so that explains a lot. Their culture is so mythical and deep and it has some kind of basic principle which always taught the Japanese people to find the balance with nature and within themselves so they can aim the perfection in everything they do. Well let’s get back to our subject: The history of Suzuki. It all started back in 1909 when a guy named Michio Suzuki from a little town called Hamamatsu made his first loom and started to sell it successfully. (Yes, you heard it right: loom. It is a bit far from motorcycles but it is not essential to start right with bikes if you can produce something else instead. Anyway looms are safer!) That was the year when the Suzuki Loom Works has been founded. He further developed his invention as the business was continually growing. In 1920 he was able to introduce his company to the stock market with the purpose the get more financial support so he could further grow the business. This year he founded the Suzuki Loom Manufacturing Company but this date also recognized as the start of the Suzuki Motor Company as most of us know today. In 1926 he started to export the looms to India and South Asia but unfortunately the time wasn’t right because the need for new looms was decreasing. His business started to encounter financial difficulties so he had to find other things to manufacture. Before World War 2 there was no motorcycle or car manufacturer in Japan. Even Soichiro Honda only built his first bike in 1947. However in Europe and in The United States, companies started to build motorcycles as early as 1885. Just to get size of the handicap that Suzuki had in the field of bikes there is a fact that the first Isle of Man race was held in 1907, two years before he started manufacturing looms. Before the war more than twenty thousand cars were imported to Japan every year and Suzuki saw the opportunity as the need was growing for cheap transportation. First he went to the direction of making automobiles and in 1938 the first prototype was built. It based on a British Austin Seven but sadly the timing wasn’t right because of the war so this project never came to existence. After the war a big economical and financial instability almost made and end of the Suzuki Loom Manufacturing Company. There is a story which tells that Suzuki’s son, Shunzo came up with a bright thought to attach a motor to his bicycle. False or not, it was a good idea to turn into a direction where they produce cycle motors instead of looms because it saved the company from bankruptcy. So in 1951 the Suzuki engineers started to design an engine but the idea wasn’t unique because at least a hundred other companies are figured out the same way to find an escape from the crash. For example Honda founded the Honda Technical Research Institute back in 1946 and they fixed small engines used by the army and then mounted it on bicycles but one year later they manufactured their own engines. Suzuki faced a big challenge because when he put his first cycle motor on the road which was powered by a 36cc engine, Honda had already dominated more than 70% of the market. How was it possible then to achieve such a great success what we know today? The answer is very simple. Suzuki’s bikes were high quality, very reliable products so soon they became incredible popular among the people. There was also a revolutionary technology implemented which allowed the rider to completely disconnect the engine from the pedals. It made possible to operate the cycle motor just with human power or the rider could freely use the pedals when the engine was running. It was such a big step on the field of motorcycles that the government granted a financial help for Suzuki to continue his experiments and it allowed him to further improve the technology. Shortly afterwards Suzuki started to produce bikes fitted with bigger cc engines because the government changed the law so everyone could ride a motorcycle up to 90cc without the need of licence. 1954 was the date when Suzuki officially changed the name of his company to Suzuki Motor Co. Ltd. At that time they produced more than 5000 bikes a year and their success is still shining as nowadays the name “Suzuki” became the synonym of speed, reliability, cutting-edge technology and performance!
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