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 Suzuki 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 common on cars half a century later.
Based in Gurgaon, India, Maruti Suzuki India Limited is Suzuki's largest and most valuable subsidiary with an annual production of 1,018,365 units in the fiscal 2009-2010. Suzuki has a 54.2% stake in the Indian auto giant and the rest is owned by the various Indian public and financial institutions. The company was incorporated in 1981 and is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India. In 2005-2006, the company had a 54% market share of the passenger car market in India. Nearly 75,000 people are employed directly by Maruti and its partners.
Maruti Suzuki was born as a Government of India company, with Suzuki as a minor partner, to make a lower priced car for middle class India. Over the years, the product range has widened, ownership has changed hands and the customer has evolved.
Maruti Suzuki offers 14 models, ranging from India's one-time best selling car, Maruti 800, for less than INR 200,000 (US$ 5000) to the premium sedan Maruti Suzuki SX4 and luxury SUV, Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara. Maruti 800 was the first model launched by the company in 1983 followed by mini-van Maruti Omni in 1984. Both models were huge success in their respective categories because of the use of high-end technology and good fuel efficiency. Maruti Gypsy, launched in 1985, came into widespread use with the Indian Army and Indian Police Service becoming its primary customers. The short-lived Maruti 1000 too achieved moderate success until it was replaced by Maruti Esteem in 1994, to counter increasing competition in the medium-sedan category.
Maruti Zen, launched in 1993, was the company's second compact car model and also became extremely popular in India because of its high performance. The company went on to launch another compact car Maruti Wagon-R followed by Maruti Baleno in 1999. However, with increasing competition from Tata, Hyundai, Honda and Daewoo Motors, Maruti was not able to achieve the same success with Baleno as it had with its earlier models. So it replaced Maruti Suzuki Baleno with the Suzuki SX4. Currently Suzuki SX4 is facing stiff competition from the Honda City.
In 2000, Maruti Alto was launched. The launch of Tata Indica and Hyundai Santro had affected Maruti's sales but Alto helped secure the company's position as the auto leader in India. It is currently the largest selling car in India. The Maruti models include Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara, launched in 2003, Maruti Versa, launched in 2004, Maruti Suzuki Swift, launched in 2005, Maruti Zen Estilo and Maruti Suzuki SX4, launched in 2007. The Alto, Swift and SX4 are leaders in their respective segments in the Indian Market.
On 14 February, Maruti Suzuki India, a Suzuki subsidiary in India, announced that it achieved one million total accumulated production volume of the Alto. The Alto has reached the million units mark in just seven years and five months since its launch on September 2000. The last half of the million has come in a record 25 months. The Alto has been India's largest volume-selling car, every month, for the past 37 consecutive months. Its popularity has continued to grow since its launch, with customers attracted to its low price with fuel efficiency. With this the Alto became the third car in the Maruti Suzuki stable to cross the million units mark. Previously, the Maruti 800 and the Omni had exceeded the million units mark. Besides its success in India, over 152,000 Altos made at Maruti Suzuki were delivered internationally, enjoying good outcomes in Algeria and Chile.
Maruti Exports Limited is the subsidiary of Maruti Udyog Limited with its major focus on exports and it does not operate in the domestic Indian market. The first commercial consignment of 480 cars were sent to Hungary. By sending a consignment of 571 cars to the same country, Maruti crossed the benchmark of 3,000,000 cars. Since its inception export was one of the aspects the government has been keen to encourage. Every political party expected Maruti to earn foreign exchange. But compared to Hyundai Maruti Suzuki is poor on export front.
Other subsidiary companies of the Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan in India are:
The Samurai was also introduced in 1985 for the 1986 model year and was the first car introduced to the United States by the newly created American Suzuki Corp. No other Japanese company sold more cars in the United States in its first year than Suzuki. The Samurai was available as a convertible or hardtop and the company slogan was Never a Dull Moment. The Samurai was successful until Consumer Reports alleged the Samurai of being susceptible to roll over in a 1988 test. This led to a much publicized 1996 lawsuit, not settled until 2004.
In 1989, American Suzuki introduced the Swift which was the 2nd generation Suzuki Cultus. The Swift was available as a GTi and GLX hatchback with a 4-door sedan following in 1990. A new small SUV called the Sidekick was also introduced in 1989. 1991 saw the introduction of the 4-door Suzuki Sidekick, the first 4-door mini-SUV in North America. The Swift and Sidekick were cousins to GM's Geo Metro and Geo Tracker and were mostly produced in Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada by Suzuki and GM's joint venture, CAMI. The Swift GT/GTi and 4-door models were imported from Japan. Negative evaluations from Consumer Reports of the Suzuki Samurai led to some temporary setbacks at American Suzuki as annual sales in the following years dropped to below 20,000 units.
In 1995, American Suzuki introduced the Esteem and redesigned the Swift. The Swift GT was dropped and this version Swift was specific only to North America where it was built at CAMI. These models were the first Suzuki vehicles to be marketed in North America with dual front airbags. A station wagon version of the Esteem was introduced in 1996. Worldwide Suzuki production reached more than 975,000 cars this year.
Also in 1996, American Suzuki released the 2-door SUV X-90 and a revised Sidekick Sport model with dual airbags, a 1.8 liter engine, 16 inch wheels and two-tone paint. The Sidekick was replaced by the Vitara and the Grand Vitara for 1999. The Grand Vitara would be Suzuki's first model with a V6-cylinder engine and available 4-wheel ABS brakes.
The Grand Vitara XL-7 was introduced in 2001 as a stretched version of the Grand Vitara. The Grand Vitara XL-7 had a larger 2.7 liter V6-cylinder engine and 3-row seating. This would be Suzuki's largest vehicle to date.
The Swift was dropped from the model lineup in 2001 and the Esteem was replaced in 2002 by the new Aerio, which was offered as a 4-door sedan and 5-door crossover with 4-wheel-drive as an option.
In 2004, General Motors and Suzuki jointly purchased the bankrupt Daewoo Motors renaming the venture GMDAT. American Suzuki rebadged the compact Daewoo Nubira/Daewoo Lacetti as the Forenza and the mid-size Daewoo Magnus as the Verona. The Forenza gained station wagon and hatchback body style in 2005, with the hatchback sold under the Reno name.
2006 was the first year American Suzuki sold more than 100,000 vehicles in the United States. Suzuki redesigned the Grand Vitara in 2006 as well as introduced the all-new Suzuki SX4 and Suzuki XL7 in 2007. The Suzuki SX4 is produced as a joint venture with Fiat and the XL7 (notice the shortening of the name from Grand Vitara XL-7) was produced as a joint venture with GM at CAMI Automotive Inc. in Ingersoll. Suzuki put XL7 production on indefinite hiatus in mid-2009 due to low demand and subsequently sold off its share of CAMI back to GM later that year.
Despite a difficult domestic US automarket, Suzuki has been keeping pace with its 2007 sales numbers including recording their best May ever in May 2008.
The new company assumed the assets, including production facilities ,of Awami Autos Limited. PSMCL started commercial operations in January 1984 with the primary objective of passenger cars, pick ups, vans and 4x4 vehicles.
The groundbreaking ceremony of the company’s green field automobile plant at Bin Qasim was performed by the then prime Minister of Pakistan in early 1989.
On completion of first phase of this plant in early 1990, in-house assembly Suzuki engines started. The new plant was completed in 1992, and Suzuki production was transferred to new plant — and three-box 1,300 cc Margalla car was also added to its range of production.
In September 1992 the company was privatized and placed directly under the Japanese Management. At the time of privatization SMC increased its equity from 25% to 40% Subsequently, SMC progressively increased its equity to 73.09% by December 31, 2001.
The Bin Qasim Plant further expanded its production capacity to 50,000 vehicles per year in July 1994 and 300,000 vehicles had been manufactured at this plant by December 2003.
Paksuzuki currently exports its cars to countries like Bangladesh, Ghana, Nigeria & Maldives.
:Chevrolet Sprint - United States/Canada (Suzuki Cultus) :Pontiac Firefly - Canada (Suzuki Cultus) :Geo Metro - United States (Suzuki Cultus) :Holden Barina - Australia & New Zealand (Suzuki Cultus) :Chevrolet Swift - South America (Suzuki Cultus) :Chevrolet Cruze - Japan (Suzuki Ignis) :Holden Cruze - Australia (Suzuki Ignis) :Chevrolet MW - Japan (Suzuki Wagon R) :Bedford Rascal - Europe (Suzuki Carry) :Bedford Rascal - United Kingdom (Suzuki Carry) :Holden Scurry - Australia (Suzuki Carry) :Chevrolet Supercarry - South America (Suzuki Carry) :Geo Tracker - United States (Sidekick/Vitara) :Chevrolet Tracker - United States/Canada (Sidekick/Vitara) :GMC Tracker - Canada (Sidekick/Vitara) :Asüna Sunrunner - Canada (Sidekick/Vitara) :Pontiac Sunrunner - Canada (Sidekick/Vitara) :Chevrolet Vitara - South America (Sidekick/Vitara) :Chevrolet Grand Nomad - South America (Suzuki XL7) :Holden Drover - Australia & New Zealand (Suzuki Sierra/Jimny) :Opel Agila - Europe (Suzuki Wagon R and Suzuki Splash) :Chevrolet MW - Japan (Suzuki Wagon R) :Vauxhall Agila - United Kingdom (Suzuki Wagon R and Suzuki Splash)
:Fiat Sedici - Europe (Suzuki SX4)
:Subaru Justy - Europe (Suzuki Swift)
:Mazda Proceed Levante - Japan (Suzuki Vitara) :Mazda Carol - Japan (Suzuki Alto) :Autozam AZ-1 - Japan (Suzuki Cara) :Autozam Scrum - Japan (Suzuki Every) :Autozam AZ-Wagon - Japan (Suzuki MR Wagon) :Mazda AZ-Offroad - Japan (Suzuki Jimny) :Mazda Spiano - Japan (Suzuki Lapin) :Mazda Laputa - Japan (Suzuki Kei)
:Nissan Moco - Japan (Suzuki MR Wagon) :Nissan Pino - Japan (Suzuki Alto) :Nissan Roox - Japan (Suzuki Palette)
:Maruti 800 - India (Suzuki Alto) :Maruti Omni - India (Suzuki Carry) :Maruti Gypsy - India (Suzuki Jimny) :Maruti 1000 - India (Suzuki Cultus) :Maruti Zen - India (Suzuki Alto)
Volkswagen :Volkswagen Rocktan (Suzuki SX4) - currently in development.
Mitsubishi Motors :Mitsubishi Colt T120ss - Indonesia (Suzuki Carry) :Mitsubishi Maven - Indonesia (Suzuki APV)
Suzuki started manufacturing motorcycles in 1952, the first models being motorized bicycles. During the 1950s, 1960s and the better part of the 1970s, the company manufactured motorcycles with two-stroke engines only, the biggest two-stroke model being the water-cooled triple-cylinder GT750.
A large factor in Suzuki's success in two-stroke competition was the East German Grand Prix racer Ernst Degner, who defected to the West in 1961, bringing with him expertise in two-stroke engines from the East German manufacturer MZ. Suzuki hired Degner, and he won the 50 cc class F.I.M. road racing World Championship for them in the 1962 season. Suzuki became the first Japanese manufacturer to win a motocross world championship when Joel Robert won the 1970 250 cc title. In the 1970s, Suzuki established themselves in the motorcycle racing world with Barry Sheene and Roger De Coster winning world championships in the premier 500 cc division in road racing and motocross respectively. Suzuki continues to compete in MotoGP and last won the title in the 2000 season. Since 2006, the team is sponsored by Rizla and is known as Rizla Suzuki MotoGP team.
It was not until 1976 that Suzuki introduced its first motorcycle with a four-stroke engine, the GS400 and GS750.
In 1994, Suzuki partnered with Nanjing Jincheng Machinery to create a Chinese motorcycle manufacturer and exporter called Jincheng Suzuki.
Notable Suzuki motorcycles include some of the following:
Hayabusa (GSX-1300R) – a sport motorcycle capable of in 1999, and limited to since 2000.
Category:Car manufacturers of Japan Category:Truck manufacturers Category:Motorcycle manufacturers of Japan Category:Scooter manufacturers Category:Off-road vehicles Category:Suzuki Category:Emergency services equipment makers Category:Automotive companies of Japan Category:Companies based in Shizuoka Prefecture Category:Companies established in 1909
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
Severn Cullis-Suzuki (born 30 November 1979 in Vancouver, Canada) is an environmental activist, speaker, television host and author. She has spoken around the world about environmental issues, urging listeners to define their values, act with the future in mind, and take individual responsibility.
In early 2002, she helped launch an Internet-based think tank called The Skyfish Project. The Skyfish Project disbanded in 2004 as Cullis-Suzuki turned her focus back to school and enrolled in a graduate course in the University of Victoria to study ethnobotany under Nancy Turner. In 2010, French DJ Laurent Wolf sampled Cullis-Suzuki's 1992 Earth Summit speech for the track "2012: Not the End of the World".
Category:1979 births Category:Living people Category:Canadian television personalities Category:Canadian people of Japanese descent Category:Canadian environmentalists Category:People from Vancouver Category:University of Victoria alumni Category:Yale University alumni Category:Child writers
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
